A CRITICAL COMMENTARY

ON

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

DESIGNED ESP.ECIALL Y

FOR

· STUDENTS OF THE ENG LISH BIBLE

BY

J. DYNELEY PRINCE, PH. D.

PROFESSOR OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES
IN THE NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

LEIPZIG
J.C. HINRICHS'SCHE BUCHHANDLUNG
LONDON 1899 NEW YQRK
WILLIAMS & NORGATE LEMCKE & BUECBNER
 CONTENTS.

PREFACE •.• pp. V-VI.

LIST 01'' ABBREVIATlONS pp. VII-VIIL
GENERAL INTRODUCTioN . pp. 1-56.
CRITICAL COMMENTARY . pp. 57-193.
PHILOLOGICAL COMMENT ARY pp. 195-259.
ADDITIONAL CRITICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL NO"rES pp. 260-265.
INDEX OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HEBREW, ARAMAIC
AND ASSYRIAN WORDS pp. 266-269.
CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA • . • • • • . . • • p. 270.
 PREFACE.

Since the final closing of the Old Testament Canon, which

probably took place about 100 B. C., perhaps no work included
therein has excited more interest than the much disputed Book
of Daniel. Indeed, a mere list of all that has been written
both in defence of and against the authenticity of this pro-
duction would fill a fair sized volume. It is oqviously im-
possible, therefore; for a critical treatment of Daniel t-o be
exhaustive in the sense of embodying all the opinions ever
advanced regarding the interpretation, authorship and origin
of the work, nor, in view of the immense mass of valueless
literature dating· from almost every Christian century which
exists on the subject, would it be desirable to attempt such
a task.
The object of the following commentary is to present as
concisely as possible, especially to the student of the English
Bible, the consensus of critical opinion regarding the many
problems arising from the study of the Book of Daniel and
to add such new matter as has been suggested by a careful
examination of the text and exegesis. With this aim in view,
VI PREFACE.

for the sake of greater clearness, the work is divided into

three parts; viz., a General Introduction, pp. 1-56, a Critical
Commentary, pp. 57-193, and a Philological Commentary, pp.
195-259, for which the discussion of all the purely technical
points has been reserved.
The writer has incorporated into the present work nearly
all the material published in his Dissertation for the Doctorate
"Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin'-', Baltimore, 1893.

J. DYNELEY PRINCE.

Hah ,of Languages

University Heights, New York City.
1899.
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
A. Aquila.
Abh. Lagarde, Gesammelte Abhandlungen.
AJP. American Journal of Philology.
AL. Delitzsch, Assyrische Lesestiicke. 3 edition. Leipzig. 1885.
Arm. Stud. Lagarde, Armenische Studien.
ASKT. Haupt, Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte. Leipzig.
1881-2.
Asurb. The Annals of AsurlJ/'inipal. KB. ii. pp. 152-237.
Asurb. Sm. George Smith, The History of Asurbanipal. London. 1871.
Asurn. The Annals of Asurnac;irpal. KB. i. pp. 48-128.
A. V. The Authorized Version.
AW. Fried. Delitzsch, Assyrisches Handworterbuch. Leipzig. 1896.
BA. Beitrage zur Assyriologie.
Behrmann. Behrmann, Das Buch Daniel. Gottingen. 1894.
Bevan. Bevan, The Book of Daniel. Cambridge. 1892.
Bezold, Lit. Bezold, Babylonisch-Assyrische Literatur. Leipzig, 1886.
CJS. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum.
Del. Prol. Fried. Delitzsch, Prolegomena e. neuen hebrltisch- aramaischen
Worterbuclis zum A. T. Leipzig. 1886.
EIH. The East India House Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. KB. iii. 2.
pp. 10-31.
Flemming, Nbk. Plemming, Die grosse Steinplatteninschrift Nebuchad-
nezzars d. II. Gottingen. 1883.
GGA. Gottingische gelehrte Auzeigen.
Gee. Abh. See Abh.
Gr. Ven. Graecus Venetus.
HNE. Haupt, Das Babylonische Nimrodepos. Leipzig. 1884-1891.
JA. Journal Asiatique.
JBL. Journal of Biblical Literature.
J. H. U. Circ. The Johns Hopkins University Circulars.
Jhvh. Jehovah.
JRAS. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Kamphausen. Kamphausen, The Book of Daniel. Critical edition of the
Heb. and Aram. Text. Leipzig. 1896.
VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.

KAT. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften nnd das Alte Testament. Giessen. 1883.
English translation: 'fhe Cuneiform Inscriptions •and the Old
Testament. London. 188:)---8.
KB. Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek. Berlin. 1889-1892.
Khora. The Khorsabad inscription of Sargon. KB. ii. pp. 52-81.
Lib. Dan. Bar and Delitzsch, Libri Danielis, Ezrae et Nehemiae. Leipzig
1882.
LXX. The Septuagint.
Nabop. Inscription of Nahopolassar. KB. iii. pp. 2-9.
NHWB. Levy, Neuhebraisches und Chaldaisches Worterbuch. Leipzig.
1876-1889.
N. T. The New Testament.
Ob. 'l'he Shalmaneser Obelisk. KB. i. pp. 128-150.
Opp. Doc. Jur. Oppert, Documents Juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la
Chaldee. Paris. 1877.
0. T. The Old 'festament.
P. The Pcshifta.
Paradies. Fried. Delitzsch. Wo lag das Paradiesl Leipzig. 1881.
RE. Herzog's Realencyclopedie,
Rm. Rammannirari III. KB. i. pp. 18'3-193.
S. Symmachus.
Barg. Cyl. The Sargon Cylinder. KB. ii. pp. 34-51.
Schrader, Cun. Inscr. The English translation to KAT.
Senn. The Taylor Cylinder of Sennacherib. KB. ii, pp. 80-113.
Bfg. Haupt, Die Snmerischen Familiengesetzc. Leipzig. 1819.
Shalm. Mon. The Shalmaneser Monolith. KB. i. pp. ln0-175.
Bt. 0. Theologische Studien und Skizzen ans Ostprenssen.
Btr. Strassmaier.
@ Theodotion.
Tig. The prism inscription of 'J'iglathpileser I. KB. i. pp. 14-47.
UAG. Hugo Winckler, Uutcrsuchungen zur altorientalischen Geschichte
Leipzig. 1889.
V. 'I'he Vulgate.
Vers. Mass. The Marseilles Version.
Vog. De Vogue, La Syrie Centrale. Paris. 1868-1877.
ZA. Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie.
ZATW. Stade's Zeitschrift fiir alttestamentliche Wissenschaft,
ZB. Zimmcru, Bahylouische Busspsalmeu. Leipzig. 1885.
ZDMG. Zeitschrift der deutschcn morgeulandischeu Gesellschaft.
ZK. Zeitschrift fiir Keilschrift.forschung.
1P Psalm.
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER FIRST.
THE BOOK AND ITS CONTENTS.
The Book of Daniel stands between Ezra and Esther in
the · third great divisjon of the Hebrew Bible known as the
Hagiographa, in which are classed all works which were not
regarded as being part of the Law or the Prophets.

Ancient Translations.
There were five ancient translations of Daniel, parts of all
of which are still extant:
I. The Septuagint.
This is thought to antedate the Christian era by more than
a century and differs in so many details from the present
Masoretic text as to make it appear evident that the early
Greek translators had an original text before them which
varied in many particulars from the one now in use.
2. Theodotion's Greek Version.
This is merely a later revision of the LXX., probably pre-.
pared in the second Christian century. The translations of.
Theodotion and the LXX. were subsequently confused with
each other, interpolations from the LXX. having been intro-
duced into Theodotion and vice versa.
3. Aquila and Symmachus;.
Only fragments of the work of these translators exist.
Prince, Daniel. 1
2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

4. The Peshitta.
"
The Syriac version 1s almost identical with the present
accepted Masoretic text.
6. The Coptic translation.
This is based on Theodotion and has a long supplementary
chapter generally supposed to have been composed as late as
1000 A.D. 1
Later additions.
In addition to these translations, there are certain later
apocryphal variations of and additions to the Book, e. g. first,
the three early productions found in the Apocrypha; viz., the
Story of Susannah, the Song of the Three Children, and Bel
and the Dragon; secondly, a Jewish apocalypse preserved in
Persian which dates from the ninth century A. D. 2, and finally
a similar Christian book which originated in the eleventh
century A. D.
Divisions of the Book.
The Book of Daniel presents the unusual peculiarity of
being written in two languages, Cc. i.-ii., 4 and viii.-xii.
being in Hebrew, while the wxt of Cc. ii. 4-vii. is in the
Palestinian dialect of Aramaic. The subject matter, however,
falls naturally into two divisions, not co-terminous with the
linguistic sections, e. g. Cc. i.-vi. and vii.-xii., incl. The first
of these sense divisions treats primarily of the adventures at
the Babylonian court of the Hebrew hero Daniel and secon-
darily, of those of his three companions Shadrach, Mesech
and Abednego 3, the scene being laid in the reigns ofNebuchad-
nezzar the great king of Babylon (604-561 B. C.), of Belshazzar
who appears in the narra~ive as the son of Nebuchadnezzar,
and of Darius the Mede who is represented as the conqueror
of Belshazzar and the successful invader of Babylon.
1 For a description of these translations, se(l Bevan, Dan. pp. 1-3;

43 ff., and Behrmann, Dan. pp. xxviii. ff. • See Zotenberg, Archiv fiir
Erforschung d. A. T. Bd. i. 1869. 3 Called Hananiah, Miiael and

Azariah in i., 6. These names were changed. by the. Chief Eunuch to

Shadracb, Mesech and Abednego.
 CHAPTER FIRST. 3
Daniel and his friends at court.
The Book opens with an introductory account, C. i., ex-
plaining the presence ~f Daniel and his three friends at the
court of Nebuchadnezzar. In consequence of a royal command
to the Chief Eunuch, who then as now acted as Master of
Ceremonies at oriental courts, this official chose certain children
of royal and noble birth to serve as attendants in the palace
and learn the wisdom and language of the Chaldreans. Among
these -were the four Jewish youths just mentioned who, in
spite of their refusal for religious reasons to defile themselves
with the king's food and wine, throve so marvellously both
physically and mentally that they excelled their fellow servants
in all matters of wisdom and understanding, especially in the
much prized arts of astrology and divination, and were accord-
ingly assured permanent positions at the court.
The Dream of the Composite Image.
The narrative then passes on abruptly in C. ii. to a special
episode in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, e. g. his unintelligible
dream regarding the great composite image, to interpret which he
calls in vain on all the native astrologers and diviners. When
these have failed and the king in great wrath has issued a
sweeping command that every member of the college of magi-
cians shall be slain, which is understood to include Daniel and his
three friends, the secret of the dream is miraculously revealed
to Daniel who is forthwith hurried before the king, to whom
he announces the interpretation. The great monarch straightway
accepts Daniel's explanation as the correct one and not only re-
cognizes the power of the Hebrew's God, but elevates the cap-
tive to be ruler of the whole province of Babylon and to be
chief of the court sages. Not content with this, the king also
appoints Daniel's three compatriots to subordinate positions of
trust in the government.
The_ Episode of the Fiery Furnace.
This latter statement forms the connecting link, by means
of which the author introduces the well-known third chapter
l*
4- GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

describing the miraculous deliverance 0£ these three persons

from the fiery furnace, to which they had been condemned
owing to their contumacy in refusing_to worship a great idol
which Nebuchadnezzar had set up for the adoration 0£ all his
people. This account seems a little strange to a modern reader,
coming as it does almost directly after the assertion t]:iat
Nebuchadnezzar had already definitely recognized the God 0£
Daniel and his compatriots as a "God 0£ gods" and a "Lord
of kings". At the end 0£ C. iii., also, there is a repetition 0£
the statement that the king appointed Shadrach, Mesech and
Abednego over the province 0£ Babylon.

The Vision of the Great Tree and the King's Insanity.

The fourth chapter has little direct connection with what
precedes, save that, in a general way, part 0£ the subject matter,
the interpretation by Daniel 0£ a dream of Nebuchadnezzar,
rese_mbles that of C. ii. In C. iv. the story is told by the
king himself iri the first person in the form of a decree. He
::tnnolinces to all peoples, nations and races, for their greater
edification, the narrative of the vision 0£ the Great Tree which
was interpreted by Daniel as being prophetic of the king's
period of insanity when his mind became deranged, so that he
wandered forth with the beasts and ate grass. The fulfill-
ment of this prophecy comes at once, even while the king is
exclaiming at its improbability. The monarch himself states -
that- he actually became like a beast for a brief period, but
that eventually his mind returned and he saw the error of
his ways. He accordingly once more, the third time in this
strange series 0£ stories, praises the "King 0£ Heaven whose -
works are truth". There can be little doubt that the author
purposely allowed these numerous and striking repetitions to
stand, in order that he might emphasize his main theri1e all
the more strongly, e. g. the power of Jhvh to rescue his
servants from any danger, however imminent and apparently
unavoidable.
 CHAPTER FIRST. 5
The Feast of Belehazzar.
In Cc. v.-vi. the narrative makes quite a new departure. The
traditions at the author's disposal concerning Nebuchadnezzar's
religious experiences being probably exhausted, be proceeds to
embody into bis work the account of the writing on the wall at
the feast of Belshazzar whom he regards as the son and succes-
sor of Nebuchadnezzar. Here it is stated that Belshazzar gave a
festival to the lords and ladies of his court, at which the sacred
vessels of the Jerusalem temple, which had been brought to
Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the Judaean captivity
iu 586 B. C., were profaned by the ribald company. In conse-
quence of this, during the midst of the festivities, a Hand was
seen writing -on the wall of the chamber a mysterious sentence
which defied all attempts at interpretation until the Hebrew
sage Daniel was called. He read and translated the unknown ·
words which proved to be a divine menace against the govern-
ment of the dissolute Belshazzar whose kingdom was to be
divided between the Medes and Pe_rsians. In the last verse
we are told that Belshazzar was slain iu that same night and
that his power pass-ed to Darius the Mede, a statement which
serves as a connecting link between Cc. v-vi.
The Den of Lions.
Chapter vi, the last section of the first division of the book,
is devoted to the well-known story of Daniel's miraculous
_escape from the den of lions, into which he was thrown through
the machinations of certain officials at the court of Darius
the Mede. After Daniel emerges iu safety from his great
peril, Darius punishes the plotters by casting them and their
families to be devoured by the same lions whose mouths had
been divinely closed against Daniel. The king is then represen-
ted as publicly acknowledging the power of Daniel's God and
requiring by a decree that all his people do the same.
The Uniformity of the Narrative.
The most superficial reader of the Book of Daniel cannot
fail to notice the .strikingly uniform character of the narratives
6 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

in the first six chapters. In every case there is a heathen

king reproved by the God 0£ the captive Jews, either through
the interpretation by an inspired servant 0£ Jhvh of a dream
or portent revealed to the unbelieving monarch, or by an actual
miracle, by means of which the divinely favoured person or
persons are rescued from the futile malice of their heathen foes.

The Second Part of the Book.

The style of the last division of the Book (vii.-xii.) is very
different to that of the narrative sections. Instead of stories
treating of the personal adventures of Daniel and his friends,
we find here apocalyptic descriptions of four prophetic visions
supposed to have been revealed to and recorded by the Hebrew
Seer at various times during his service at the Babylonian
court.
The Vision of the Four Beasts.
Chapter vii., the first of the series, is the record of the vision
of the four beasts, typifying the four world empires, and also
the additional vision of the ultimate domination 0£ the Messianic
Man. It is distinctly stated here that four world empires are
to arise, during which time the sufferings 0£ the saints are to
increase until they culminate at the end 0£ the fourth empire
under a prince worse than all his predecessors, after which
the- kingdom of God is to appear. A careful examination of
the book makes it apparent that the author believed that
Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Belshazzar who was
displaced by Darius the Mede and he in turn followed by
Cyrus the Persian. It seems evident, therefore, that in the
mind of the author 4 the four empires were:
1. The Babylonian monarchy, represented by Nebuchadnezzar
and his immediate successor Belshazzar.
2. That of Darius the Mede.
3. The Persian empire under Cyrus.

• This view, which is a very ancient one, 1s now so generally

accepted as not to require discussion.
 CHAPTER FIRST. 7
4. The empire of Alexander and his successors, culminat-
ing in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164. B. C.).
The Ram and the Goat.
Chapter viii. sets forth the second vision concerning the
Ram and Goat which is explained to Daniel by a superhuman
interpreter as being prophetic of the conflict between the kings
of Media and Persia and "the king of Grecia".
The Style of the Visions.
It is noticeable that in Cc. vii.-viii. the language describing
the visions is highly typical, requiring a special interpretation
before Daniel comprehends it, the author making use of a ram
and a goat, as well as of composite beasts as the symbols of
the historical events of which he speaks. From ix. to xii.,
however, he throws aside these ambiguous terms and makes
Daniel receive his information in clearer and more direct
language.
The Seventy' Weeks.
The third vision, C. ix., accordingly, differs radically from
the preceding sections. It begins with a long penitential
prayer in which Daniel in exalted language reviews the sins
of Israel against Jhvh and prays for the divine forgiveness
for the people. A speedy answer to this supplication comes
in the person of the angel Gabriel who announces to the Seer
the mysterious period of seventy weeks of probation for Israel.

Description of the Seleucidan Period.

The two last chapters (x.-xii.) deal with the fourth vision
by the Tigris of the comforting angel, by whom Daniel is
informed that his prayers have been heard. The messenger
exhorts the pious Israelite to be firm and take courage, vaguely
alluding to an impending battle between himself and the prince
of Persia "after which the prince of Grecia shall come" (evidently
Alexander the Great). The speaker continues in Cc. xi-xii.
to prophesy very minutely the course of future history, mention-
.,. ing in no doubtful terms the immediate predecessors of the
8 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, as well as the chief events

of that monarch's evil reign. In fact, .in the last three chapters
of the book the combats between the Ptolemies and Seleucidae
are so clearly laid before the reader that the visions have more
the appearance of history than prophecy.
Daniel and the Apocalyptic Literature.
The Book of Daniel is the oldest apocalyptic work on record.
and has served undoubtedly as the model for all later produc-
tions of this nature, whether Jewish or Christian. The apocalyptic
writers were in a measure the successors of the ancient prophets
who had exhorted and encouraged the people in their various
vicissitudes by promising the speedy advent of the Messiah
and the permanent restoration of Israel's glory. Precisely the
same theme was followed by the authors of the later con-
solatory literature who, however, in emphasizing it, employed
an entirely different method. Instead of themselves professing
to speak as mouth-pieces of Jhvh, they preferred to put re-
velations suiting the special purpose of their works into the
mouths of the more famous older prophets, anonymously
weaving a tissue of wonderful visions and symbolical irn~es
supposed to have been revealed to some great seer of anti-
quity, but always having a direct reference to events which
were really within the scope of the author's own knowledge.
The obscure imagery employed by writers of this school was
undoubtedly purposely used to veil the true meaning of their
consolatory predictions which, for example, in the case of the
Book of Daniel, a work obviously directed against a perse-
cuting monarch, could certainly not have been published in
plain language with any safety to the author. The influence
of the Book of Daniel is clearly seen not only in the apocryphal
and apocalyptic works mentioned above, but throughout all
the later apocalyptic literature, the most notable example of
which is, of course, the great Apocalypse. of St. John in the
New Testament.
 CHAPT,ER SECOND. 9

CHAPTER SECOND.
THE LITERARY UNITY OF THE WORK.
Regarding the literary unity of Daniel, opinions vary. Some
critics, owing to the great difference in style between the two
divisions of the book, have believed in a separate origin for
the first six chapters 1• Moreover, the fact that from ii. 4
through vii, the text is in Aramaic and not in Hebrew has
not unnaturally influenced some scholars to believe that the
Aramaic portions have a separate_ origin from the other parts
of the book 2•
Uniformity of the Prophecies.
A comparison of the apocalyptic and narrative chapters,
however, makes it apparent. that we have the same prophecies
in all repeated in different forms. Thus, the vision of the
colossal image in the narrative chapter ii. contains substanti-
ally the same prophecies as occur in the purely apocalyptic
chapter vii. in the second part of the work. It should not
be forgotten, also, that the Aramaic chapter vii., the beginning
of the second part, is certainly as apocalyptic in character as.
any of the following Hebrew sections. Moreover, th1 natural
1 Thus, Sack, Herbst and Davidson attributed the second part of

the work to Daniel, but regarded the first six chapters as an intro-
duction to the visions written by a later Jew. Eichhorn believed that
Cc. ii. 4-vi. were written by one author, and Cc. vii.-xii. with i.-ii. 3
by another. • Zockler, for example, following some of his prede-
cessors such as Kranichfeld, considered the Aramaic sections as extracts
from a contemporary journal in the vernacular (Dan. p. 4). Even
Driver (Introd. pp. 482-3), although seeing the objection to such a
view, remarks with some caution that the th·eory of a separate origin
for these sections deserves consideration. Meinhold (Diss. p. 38 and
Beitra.ge z. Erkla.rung d. B. Dan. pp. 32; 70.) believed that the Aramaic
portions were in existence at the time · of Alexander the Great. We
· should compare, in this connection, Strack (in Zllckler's Hdbch. i. 165)
who inclines to this view, although admitting that the book at present
forms an indivisible whole (cf. also Lenormant, Magie; Germ. ed.
pp. 527; 565).
10 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

division of the work is undoubtedly after Chapter vi., so that,

if the difference in language were a sign of a separate origin
for these narrative sections, we would expect C. vii., the be-
ginning of the distinctly apocalyptic portion, to be in Hebrew,
which, however, is not the case. The Aramaic seventh chapter
belongs as completely to the following Hebrew apocalyptic
sections as the Hebrew first chapter is essentially part of the
following Aramaic narrative sections. There can be little
doubt, therefore, that any theory seeking to divide the author-
ship of the book on the basis of the unexpected change of
language is untenable.
Definite Plan of the Work.
A resume of the contents shows clearly that a definite plan
was followed in the arrangement of the work. The author
evidently sought to demonstrate to his Jewish readers the
necessity of faith in Israel's God Who docs not allow His
chosen ones to suffer for ever under the heel of the ruthless
heathen oppressor. To illustrate this, he makes use, on the
one hand, of carefully chosen narratives, each arranged in a
separate section which was only very loosely connected with
the others, but all treating of substantially the same subject;
the triumph of God's servant over his unbelieving enemies,
and on the other hand of certain prophetic visions which
are revealed to this same servant. So carefully, indeed, is the
record of the visions arranged, that the first two chapters of
the second part of the Book (vii.-viii.) were probably pur-
posely made to appear in a symbolic form, in order that in
the last two revelations, which were couched in such direct
language as to be intelligible even to the modern student of
history, the author may obtain the effect of a climax.
Daniel not a series of "Disjecta membra".
The Book of Daniel can hardly be said to be "a bundle
of loose leaves" as Lagarde called it 3, except in the sense
3 Mitt. iv. p. 351 (1891), commenting on a similar view of J. D.

Michaelis. Cf. also GGA. 1891. pp. 497-520, especially pp. 506-517.
 CHAP'rER SECOND. 11

that the author undoubtedly made use of some material which

he found ready to his hand. He most probably arranged his
work purposely in more or less disconnected sections, in order
to facilitate its diffusion at a time when books became known
to the people at large chiefly by being read aloud in public 4 •
The uniform plan of the Book and the studied arrangement
of its subject matter show conclusively that it is the work
of a single author, and the extreme theory, therefore, that
Daniel is merely a collection of Danieliana, e. g. a number of
parts of different origin joined loosely together by a careless
editor must be unqualifiedly rejected 5•
The change of Language. Aramaic not the Language
of Babylonia.
Various attempts have been made to explain the sudden
change from Hebrew to Aramaic in ii. 4. Some of the older
commentators thought that Aramaic was the vernacular of
Babylonia and was consequently employed as the language
of the parts relating to that country 6 • Such a view is of
course no longer tenable, as the cuneiform inscriptions now
show that both Assyria and Babylonia had a distinct Semitic
language of their own which remained in use until quite a late
date, certainly later than the time of the author of Daniel 7 •

This view of Lagarde's was really a repetition of that of Bertholdt,

Dan. pp. 49 ff.
• See Bevan, Dan. p. 25. • Cf. Bleek, Einl. p. 415; Delitzsch,
RE. 2 vii. p. 471; Reuss, Gesch., p. 599, and more lately Kamphausen,
Das Buch Daniel und die neuere Geschichtsforschung. 1893, p. 8.
• So Kliefoth, Dan. p. 44; Keil, Dan. p. 14. 1 The latest connected

Babylonian inscription is that of Antiochus Soter (280-260 B. C.),

published V. R. 66 and translated by Peiser, KB. iii. pt. 2, p. 136.
Nl:Hdeke's theory, advanced in his /Jrochure, Die Semitischen Sprachen,
pp. 41 ff., that the Assyrian language died as a spoken idiom shortly
before the fall of Nineveh is wholly unfounded. Gutbrod refers in
ZA. vi. p. 27 to a brick, found at Tello, on which was engraved in
Aramaic and Greek letters a proper name of distinctly Assyrian
character; viz., Ml:tl'1l'1'1l:t, 'Acl'mfvacl'wax11,. When it is remembered that
a living language exercises the greatest possible influence on the
formation of proper names, this brick, which is unfortunately undated,
12 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

The View of Merx.

The theory of Merx is equally unconvincing that Aramaic,
which was the popular tongue of the period when the Book
was written, was used for the narratives for this reason, while
Hebrew, as the more learned language, was made the idiom
of the philosophical portions. The plain answer to this idea
is that Chapter i., which is just as much in the narrative
style as the follov.wg Aramaic sections, is in Hebrew, while
the distinctly apocalyptic Chapter vii. is in Aramaic.

The "Hybrid" Theory.

A third supposition that the bilingual character of the work
points to a time when Hebrew and Aramaic were used in-
differently is highly unsatisfactory, as it is very questionable
if two languages can be used quite indifferently. In fact, a
hybrid connected work in two idioms would be a literary
monstrosity 8 •
Huetius and Bertholdt.
Huetius, an old commentator, expressed the belief that the
entire work was written originally in Aramaic and was sub-
sequently translated into Hebrew 9 • He thought that in the
troubled Seleucidan period the Hebrew translation was partly
destroyed and the missing portions supplied from the Aramaic
original. This theory does not commend itself as the mo,lt
satisfactory explanation of the difficulty, because it would be
rather improbable that a writer would go to the trouble of
translating a work from the popular language into the idiom
of culture which was known only to a few, but rather the
reverse. The well known scholar Bertholdt, however, in com-
menting on Huetius' view hit upon what now seems the best

would seem to be an evidence, as Gutbrod thinks, that Assyrian was

spoken until Hellenic times. It is perfectly possible that Assyro-
Babylonian survived as a literary language as late as the second
century A. D.
s Cf. Bertholdt, Dan. p. 15; also Havernick, and Franz Delitzsch,
RE.• iii. p. 272 and vii. p. 470. 9 Demonstr. Evang. p. 472.
 CHAPTER THIRD. 13
solution of the problem, but unfortunately did not adopt it 10•
He remarked with a strong touch of sarcasm that it had not
yet occurred to anyone to consider the Aramaic text as a
translation and the Hebrew as an original.
The only possible Explanation.
In view of the evident unity of the entire work, which
Bertholdt did not recognize, no other explanation of the bi-
lingual character of the Book seems possible. The work was
probably written at first all in Hebrew, but for the convenience
of the general reader whose language was Aramaic, a trans-
lation, possibly from the same pen as the original, was made
into the Aramaic vernacular. It must be supposed then that
certain parts of the Hebrew manuscript being lost, the missing
places were supplied from the current Aramaic translation 11•

CHAPTER THIRD.
THE AUTHORSHIP AND DATE OF THE WORK.
The Book generally credited by the ancients.
The Book of Daniel was probably in existence as early as
140 B. C., as there is a reference in the Sybilline verses (iii.
388 ff.) 1 which seems to be an allusion to Antiochus Epiphanes
and the ten horns of Dan. vii. 7; x. 24. Besides this, the
allusion in 1 Mace. ii. 59-60 to the .divine rescue of Daniel's
10 In his Daniel, on v. 2. 11 So also Bevan, Dan. pp. 27 ff. I cannot

agree in this connection with Kamphausen, op. cit. p. 14, note, who
rejects this hypothesis on the ground that the author of Daniel fell
into the error of regarding Chaldrean as the language of Babylonia,
and consequently deliberately wrote in it those sections applying more
especially to Babylon, reserving the Hebrew for the more solemn
prophetical part Kamphausen does not explain any more than his
predecessors in this opinion (see above p. 11 note 6) why the apocalyptic
Aramaic chapter vii., which is indivisible from the succeeding pro-
phetic Hebrew portions, is in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.
1 Schiirer, Gesch. d. jiidischen Volkes. ii. pp. 791-799.

-...)
 14 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

three companions from the fiery furnace shows conclusively

that the Book was known and generally credited at that time
(100 B. C.). It seems to have been recognized by the ancients
that the events chronicled in the Book of Daniel were histori-
cally accurate in every particular and that the work was ac-
tually the production of the Hebrew Prophet Daniel who lived
from the time of N cbuchadnezzar the great king of Babylon
(now known to have reigned 604-561 B. C.) until the beginning
of the reign of Cyrus in Babylonia (538 B. C.) 2 • This may
be seen from the references in the New Testament ascribing
the authorship of the work to Daniel without question 3 and also
by the writings of the Jewish chronicler Josephus who relates,
for example, with perfect good faith the fable ,1, about the prophe-
cies of Daniel being shown to Alexander the Great on the
entry of that monarch into Jerusalem. A long list of more
modern writers who upheld the authenticity of the Book might
also easily be cited 5•
Early Doubters.
The first known authority who expressed a aoubt as to the
genuine character of the Book of Daniel was the Neo-Platonist
/ Porphyrius (233--304 A. D.) who, in his great work of fifteen books
directed against the Christians, devoted the whole of the twelfth
book to an attack on Daniel which he declared to have been the
work of a Jew of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, originally
written in Greek 6 • The writings of Porphy:tius were all collected
and burnt by order of the emperors Constantine and Theodosius,
. so that his views have descended to posterity only through
the works of Jerome who attempted to refute his arguments 7 •
2 See Additional Note i. 3
Matth. xxiv. 15; Mark, xiii. 14, refer-
ring to Dan. ix. 27; xii. 11. The Homan Church regards Daniel as a
saint and. appoints July 21 st as his day (cf. Baillet, Vitae Sanctorum
ad diem xxi Julii). ~ Ant. xi. 8, 5. • See Additional Note ii.
6 Porphyrius used the Greek version of @ which he very probably

believed to be the original of the work (cf. Bevan Dan. p. 3, quoting

Jerome). 7 According to the statement of Jerome, he was also an-

swered by Methodius, Apollinaris of Laodicea and Eusebius.of Caesaria.

 CHAPTER THIRD. 15
According to Origen, the pagan Celsus is also said to have
expressed a doubt concerning the truth of the occurrences
described in Daniel.
The Book cannot be authentic history.
It cannot be denied in the light of modern research that if
the Book of Daniel be regarded as pretending to full historical
authority, the Biblical record is open to all manner of attack.
It is now the general opinion of most scholars who study the
old Testament from a critical point of view 8 that this work
cannot possibly have originated according to the traditional
theory at any time during the later Babylonim1 monarchy when
the events recorded are supposed to have taken place. The
chief reasons for such a conclusion are as follows :

1. The position in the Canon.

The position of the Book among the Hagiographa inst.cad
of among the Prophetical works would seem to indicate that
it must have been introduced after the closing of the Prophetical
canon. The explanation, advanced by some, that the apocalyptic
nature of the work did not entitle it to a place among the
Prophetical books and that therefore it was relegated to an
inferior position is hardly satisfactory. Some commentators
believed that Daniel was not an actual prophet in the proper

• Collins, Scheme of literal Prophecy considered, 1726; Semler,

Untersuchungen des Canons, iii. p. 505; Corrodi, Versuche iiber ver-
schiedene in Theologie und Bibelkritik einschlagende Gegenstande,
1783; Versuch einer Beleuchtung der Geschichte d. jiid. u. christl.
Bibelkanons, i. pp. 75:if., 1792; Eichhorn, Einl. 4 ; Bertholdt, Dan.;
Kirms, Commentatio historico -critica, 1828; · Redepenning, Dan., 1833;
v. Lengerke, Dan., 1835; Ewald, Dan.; Hitzig, Dan.; Bunsen, Gott in
der Gesch. i. Teil, 1857. pp. 302; 514; 540; Liicke, Versuch e. vollstand.
Einl. i. d. Offenbarung Johannes•; Bleek, Einl.; Riehm, Einl. ii. p. 292;
Strack in Zockler's Hdbch. d. Theol. Wissenschaft, i. pp. 164-5, 1885;
also in Herzog RE. 2 vii. p. 419; Schlottmann, Compendium d. Alttest.
Theologie, 1887-9; Reuss, Gesch. d. A. T., pp. 592ft'. 1890; C. A. Briggs,
Messianic Prophecy, pp. 411 ff.; Driver, Introd. p. 467; and many
others. ·
i6 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

sense, but only a seer, or else that he was a prophet merely

by natural gifts, but not by official standing 9• If Daniel,
however, had really seen the visions which are attributed to
him by the work bearing his name, he would certainly have
been a great prophet, and, as has been pointed out by Bleek,
would have had fully as much right to be ranked as such as
Amos, Ezekiel or Zechariah 10• The natural explanation regarding
the position of the Book of Daniel is that the work could not
have been in existence _at the time of the completion of the
second part of the Canon, as otherwise, the collectors of the
prophetical writings, who in their care did not neglect_ even
the parable of Jonah, would hardly have ignored the record
of such a great prophet as Daniel is represented to be.

2. The Silence of Ecclesiasticus.

The silence of Jesus Smtch (Ecclesiasticus) concerning Daniel
seems to show that the prophet was unknown to that late
writer who, in his list of celebrated men (C. xlix), makes no
mentioq of Daniel, but passes from Jeremiah to Ezekiel and
then to the twelve Minor Prophets and Zerubbabel. If Darnel
had been known to Jesus Sirach, we would certainly expect
to find his name in this list_, probably between Jeremiah and
Ezekiel. Again, the only explanation seems to be that the
Book of Daniel was not known to Sirach who lived and wrote
between 200 and 180 B. C. Had so celebrated a person as
Daniel been known, he could hardly have escaped mention in

• The explanation originated with the Rabbinical writers that·

Daniel had the 1V'li'h rw, 'spirit of holiness', but not the n~,::i~n 1i,.,
'the official inspiration' (Qamchi, Preface to the Psalms; Maimon,
More Nebochim, 2. pp. 41; 119, quoted Bertholdt, Dan., p. xiii.). This
rabbinical device was followed and elaborated -by a number of the
later orthodox commentators such as Auberlen, Dan. pp. 34-5; Delitzsch,
RE. 2 iii. pp. 271-2; Isaiah, p. 3; Keil, Dan. p. 23, etc. 1° Cf. Bleek,

Einl. 5 p. 418. In the LXX. the book is placed directly after Ezekiel,
which shows that the translators considered it a prophetic work.
Compare, in this connection the opinion of Yahya, who attributed to
Daniel the highest degree of prophetic inspiration: ;,,:in h:S:i' n~,::i~li.
 CHAPTER THIRD. 17
such a· complete list of Israel's leading spirits. Hengstenberg
remarked that Ezra and Mordecai were also left unmentioned,
but the case is not parallel. Daniel is represented in the work
attributed to him as a great prophet, while Ezra appears in
the Book bearing his name as nothing more than a rather
prominent priest and scholar.

3. No Traces of the Influence of Daniel on the Prophets.

A third argument against an early origin for our Book is
the fact that the post-exilic prophets exhibit no trace of its
influence. Had the Book of Daniel been extant and generally
known since the time of Cyrus, it would be reasonable to look
for some sign of its power among the writings of prophets
like Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, whose works, however,
show no evidence that either the name or history of Daniel
was known to the authors.
Attention has been attracted, furthermore to • the way in
which the prophets are looked back upori in ix. 6-10, which
cannot fail to suggest an extremely late origin for the Book.
Besides this, a careful study of the passage ix. 2 seems to
indicate that the Canon of the Prophets was definitely estab-
lished at the time when the author wrote. It is, moreover,
highly probable that much of the material of the second part
of the Book was suggested by the works of the later Prophets,
especially Ezekie_l and Zechariah.

4. The Contents of the Work show its inauthentic

Character.
Finally, the actual contents of the Book itself seem to preclude
the supposition of even an approximately contemporary origin
for the work. The narrative chapters, for example, are full
of striking historical inaccuracies which could never have
originated at the time of the Jndrean captivity in Babylon.
Three striking Errors.
This will readily be seen from a cursory summary of the
three most important errors of this sort:-
Prince, Daniel. 2
18 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

a) Date of the Capture of .Jerusalem.

The chronological error in C. i. that Nebuchadnezzar took
Jerusalem as king of Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim
should be considered first. It is known from Jer. xxv. 1 and
xxxvi. 9; 29, that Nebuchadnezzar did not begin to reign iu
Babylon until the fourth year of Jehoiakim in Judal1, and that
the Babylonians in. the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoia-
kim had not yet come to Jerusalem which was taken in July 586
B. C. 11 in the tenth and last year of the reign of Jehoiakin1.
The origin of this error has been traced to a false combina-
tion of 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6 ff. and 2 Kings xxiv. 1 12•
b) Belshazzar.
No writer living. at the Babylonian court of Cyrus could
have asserted thatBelshazzar was the son ofNebuchadnezzar 13•
c) Darius the Mede.
No author familiar with the contemporary history could have
interpol:i,ted a Median {ule:
between the last king of Babylon
and the Persians 14•
Foreign Loanwords.
An additional evidence that the Book of Daniel must have
been written at a considerably later period than the Persian
conquest of Babylon may be found in the presence of both
Persian and Greek loanwords 15 • The occurrence of the former
shows conclusively that the book must have originated after
11 See Bleek, op. cit., p. 427. Cf. also Tiele, Gesch. p. 427; 2 Kings

xxiv. 10-17; Jer. xxix. 2. 10

See Kamphausen, Das Buch Daniel und
die neuere Geschichtsforschung, p. 17. 13
It. is interesting to notice
that as early as 1757 A. D., Goebel (De Belsasaro, quoted Reuss, op.
cit. p. 602) calls attention to this historical error. Reuss mentions also
one Sartorius, Hist. Excid. Babyl., Tiibingen, 1766;. also Norberg,
Opp. iii, p. 222. For full discussion, see below pp. 41 ff. a For full
15
discussion, see below pp. 44 ff. The theory advanced by Strack,
in Zockler's Handbuch i. p. 165 and RE. 2 vii, p. 419, that the occur-
rence of, Persian loanwords necessarily points to a pre-Maccabrean
origin for these sections does not seem tenable. It is quite con-
ceivable that Persian loanwords should have remained until the time
of Antiochus Epiphanes.
 CHAPTER THIRD. 19
the Persian conquest of Babylon, while on the other hand the
presence of Greek words appears to preclude the possibility
of setting the origin of the work prior to the time of Alexander
the Great. For example, the names of the three musical in-
struments in C. iii. 5; 15; translated in the A. V. "dulcimer,
psaltery and harp" are undoubtedly loanwords from the Greek
a11µcpwvla, tpah~ewv and xiffaeti;, and the reproduction of
the words in Aramaic is so exact as to presuppose a close
commercial intercourse between the Greeks and the people
among whom the author of Daniel lived. It is quite clear,
however, that no such intercourse could have taken place be-
fore the time of Alexander and the subsequent Seleucidae 16•
The Languages of Daniel.
No satisfactory argumerit concerning the age of Daniel can
be deduced from an examination of the languages in which
the Book is written save that, as will appear in the subsequent
commentary, _the Hebrew is undoubtedly late and full of
Aramreisms and in some respects approaches the later language
of the "Mishua. The Aramaic of both Daniel and Ezra is a
special Palestinian dialect of the language commonly known
as the Biblical Aramaic, of which the idiom of the Jewish
Targums is a somewhat modernized form 17 •
The Apocalyptic Sections. The prophetical Allusions to
Antiochus Epiphanes.
Turning more especially to the apocalyptic sections, it is
quite evident that the predictions in the Book of Daniel centre
on the period of Antiochus Epiphanes when that Syrian prince
was endeavouring to suppress the worship of Jhvh and sub-
stitute for it the Greek idolatry 18 • These passages either break
off directly with the overthrow of this king, or else add a
promise of freedom for God's people from all oppressions and

16 See below on iii. 5 for full discussion regarding the early intercourse

between the Greeks and Persians. 17 See Bevan, Dan. pp. 28-40 on

the Hebrew and Aramaic of Daniel. 18

Cf. 2 Mace. v. 11 ff.
2*
20 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

the announcement of the Messianic kingdom and the resur-

rection of the dead. There can be no doubt £or example that
in the Little Horn of vii. 8; viii. 9 and the wicked prince
described in ix.-xi. who is to work such evil among the saints,
we have clearly one and the same person. It is now general1y
recognized that the king symbolized by the Little Horn, of
whom it is said that he will come of one of four kingdo~s
which shall be formed from the Greek empire after the death
of its first king, can be none other than .Antiochus Epiphanes,
and in like manner do the references in C. ix. plainly allude
to the same prince. It seems quite clear also that xi. 21-45
refers to the evil deeds of .Antiochus IV. and his attempts
against the Jewish people and the worship of Jhvh. In C. xii.
follows the promise of salvation from the same tyrant and,
strikingly enough, the predictions in this last section x.-xii.
relating to future events become inaccurate as soon as the
author finishes the section describing the reign of .Antiochus
Epiphanes 19 •
The Doctrines.
Not only does the subject matter of the prophecies plainly
point to a post-Babylonian origin for the work, but also some
of the beliefs which are set forth in the second part of the
book practically preclude the possibility of the author's having
lived at the court of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors.

The Angelology.
Most noticeable among these doctrines is the complete
system of angelology consistently followed out in the Book of
Daniel, according to which the management of human affairs
is entrusted to a regular hierarchy of commanding angels,
two of whom, Gabriel and Michael, are even mentioned by
name. Such an idea was distinctly foreign to the primitive
Israelitish conception of the indivisibility of Jhoh's power and
must consequently" have been a borrowed one. It con1d cer-
19 See below on Cc, x.-xii.
 CHAPTER TlIIRD.

tainly not have come from the Babylonians, however, whose

system of attendant spirits was far from being as complete
as that which we find in the Book of Daniel, but rather from
Persian sources where a most complicated angelology had been
developed 20 • There can be little doubt, as many commen-
tators have brought out, that this doctrine of angels in Daniel
is an indication of prolonged Persian influence.

The Resurrection of the Dead.

Furthermore, the attention .of scholars has been directed to
the fact that the first definite prophecy of a resurrection of
the dead is found in the Book of Daniel 21 and it is now very
generally admitted that this doctrine also originated among
the Persians and could only have become engrafted on the
Jewj.sh mind after a long period of intercourse with the Zoro-
astrian religion 22 • It is clearly impossible, therefore, that the
author of passages showing such beliefs could have lived as
early as the time of Nebuchadnezzar.

Style of the Prophecies.

In addition to all these details, it should be noticed that
the Book of Daniel differs materially from all other prophetic
writings of the Old Testament in the general style of its
prophecies. Other prophets confine themselves to vague and
general predictions, but the author of Daniel gives a detailed
account of historical events which may easily be recognized
through the thin veil of prophetic mystery thrown lightly
around theµi. It is highly suggestive that just those occur•
rences which are th~ most remote from the assumed stand-
point of. the .• wi-ter are the most correctly stated, while the
nearer W.l;l &ppi;oach. the author's supposed time, the more
inaccur~te qoe~ ~e.. 1;,ecome. It should be stated also in this
20 Of. Cheyne',' Encycl. Brit. vi. p. 806. 21 Of. Cheyne, Book of

Isaiah chronologically arranged, p. 130, § 5. 22 The investigations

of Persian scholars, especially of Haug, Spiegel and Windischmann

show that this is a real Zoroastrian doctrine.
22 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

connection that the chronological reckoning by weeks and

days in the prophecies of Daniel is quite at variance with
the usual custom of the Hebrew prophets who rarely set a
definite time for the fulfillment of a prediction, but almost
invariably give their dates in round numbers 23 •
Impossibility of Babylonian Authorship.
It would be extremely difficult to reconcile all these facts,
which will be discussed still further in the following chapters,
with the theory of a Babylonian authorship for the Book,
because, setting aside the marvel of such accurate prophecy
relating to the Seleucidan period centuries before the events
referred to, it would be natural to suppose that a prophet of
the time of the Babylonian captivity would rather direct his
attention to the freedom of his people from their immediate
servitude in Babylon than from the oppression of a king who
ruled several hundred years later. It would be more natural,
therefore, to ex~ect in an early work prophecies of the return
of the Jews to Palestine, as in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah,
rather than the proclamation of an ideal Messianic kingdom
such as we find in the second part of the Book of Daniel 2 '.
The signi:fl.cance of Daniel not destroyed.
It should not be said that Daniel loses any of its beauty
and force because we are bound in the light of modern criti-
cism to consider it a production of the reign of Antiochus
Epiphanes, nor should conservative Bible readers exclaim be-
cause the historical accuracy of the work is thus destroyed.
There can be no doubt that the influence of the Book was
a very great one on the subsequent developement of Christia-
nity, but it was not the influence of the history contained in

'" Except the interpolated passage Is. vii. 8; in which connection,

24
see Delitzsch, Isaiah, p. 137. For the evident lateness of this part
of the book cf. Bleek, Einl. p. 420; Strack, RE. 1 vii. p. 419; Hoffmann,
Antiochus IV., pp. 82 ff.; Driver, In trod. p. 461. Derenbourg remarked
rightly that the contents of C. ix, referring to Jerusalem, should
remove all further doubt as to the late origin (Hebraica iv. p. 8).
 CHAPTEli THIRD. 23
it which made itself felt, but rather of the sublime hope for
a. future deliverance which the author of Daniel never lost
sight 0£
Mention of Daniel in the N. T.
The allusion of our Lord to a prophecy contained in the
Book of Daniel (Matth. xxiv. 15) has led many to assert that
on this account only the authenticity of the work should not
be questioned by true believers. This reference which is to
the "abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet''
shows merely that Jesus was referring to the book by its
commonly accepted title. If the conservative critics could
prove that our Lord meant his hearers to understand by these
words that the quotation He was uttering was actually an
expression used by the Prophet described in our book and
that He intended thereby to stamp the work as an authentic
production of a Prophet named Daniel who lived at the Baby-
lonian court, then every true believer in the infallibility of
the utterances of Jesus would be in duty bo~nd to accept
His dictum as final. Such a conclusion, however, is by no
means justified by the context in which our Lord's words
appear. In His vivid prophecy of the impending fall of
· Jerusalem, He simply made use of an apt quotation from a
well-known work in order to illustrate and give additional
force to His own prediction. We are no more bound by this
citation to consider Daniel to be. the work of a prophet who
was contemporary with Nebuchadnezzar than we are com-
pelled by the similar allusion of our Lord to the "Sign of the
Prophet Jonah'' (Matth. xii. 39-40) to regard the book attri-
buted to that person as a genuine production of Jonah Ben
Amittai the ancient prophet of Gath-Hepher who lived in the
reign of Amaziah king of Judah in the eighth century B. C.
(2 Kings xiv. 25).
The true Significance of Daniel.
To assert, furthermore, with some excellent Christian divines
·t that with the authenticity of the Book of Daniel the whole
24 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

prophetical structure of the Old Testament stands or falls is

as illogical as th_e statement of Newton that he who denies
Daniel's prophecies denies Christianity. If the book be pro-
perly understood it must not only be admitted that the author
made no pretence at exactness 0£ detail, but also that his
"prophecies" were never intended to be other than an histori-
cal resume clothed for the sake of greater literary vividness
in a prophetic garb. It is very difficult to sec how such a
conclusion affects the authenticity 0£ utterances 0£ other au-
thors which were really meant to be predictions of the future.
If viewed in the proper light, the work of the author of
Daniel cannot he called a forgery, but merely a consolatory
political pamphlet, and it should certainly be possible for
intelligent Christians to consider the Book just as powerful,
viewed according to the author's evident intention, as a co~•
solation to God's people in their dire distress at the time of
·Antiochus Epiphanes, as if it were, what an ancient but
mistaken tradition has made it, really an accurate account of
events which took place at the close of the Babylonian period.

CHAPTER FOURTH.
THE ORIGIN OF THE HISTORICAL MATERIAL.
,Owing to the great ·paucity 0£ data at our disposal, the
question regarding the origin 0£ the historical material 0£ the
·Book 0£ Daniel is a very difficult one.
Daniel's Birth and ·Family.
For example, there are no means 0£ ascertaining anything
definite concerning the origin of the hero Daniel himself who
appears as the central figure 0£ the entire work. The account
0£ the first chapter has been generally misunderstood. We arc
told in i. 3 that the king commanded the Chief Eunuch to
bring "certain 0£ the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, '
 UUAPTER FOURTH. 25

and of the nobles" to serve in the court. Many commentators

have considered this to mean that some of the children were
of the royal Jud:.ean line and of Jewish noble families, an
interpretation which is by no means justified by the wording
of the passage. It is highly likely that the author simply
meant to state that, while some of these youths were Jews, the
others were of high rank in Babylonia. There is nothing in
the text to indicate that he meant to convey the idea that
they were of Jewish royal and noble stock. Some expositors,
however, misled by this passage argued that the author of the
Book was probably familiar with 2 Kings xxiv. 14-15 where
it is definitely stated that Nebuchadnezzar carried away fyom
Jerusalem all the Jewish nobility as well as the immediate
family of king Jehoiakirn. Josephus 1, never doubting the
historical accuracy of Daniel, made the Prophet a relative of
Zedekiah and consequently of Jehoiakim 2, a conclusion which
he apparently drew from the same passage, i. 3. Pseudo-Epi-
phanius 3, on ,the other hand, undoubtedly having the same
source in mind, thought that Daniel was the son of a Jewish
noble family. The true Epiphanius 4 even gives the name of
his father as Sabaan 5 and asserts that the Prophet was born
in upper Beth-Boron, a village near Jerusalem.
Daniel's Life and Death.
The after life and death of the Seer are as obscure as
his origin. The Biblical account gives little aid, as it is ex-
pressly stated that Daniel continued until the first year of
1 Ant. x. 10, 1. 2
Mattaniah or Zedekiah was the brother of
Jehoiakim according to 2 Kings xxiv. 17, but according to 2 Chron.
xxxvi. 10, he was the brother of Jehoiakin or Jeconiah. It has been
suggested that Josephus may have confused his Zedekiah with the
prince Zedekiah ben Hananiah, mentioned Jer. xxxvi. 12 (so Bertholdt,
p. 4, but cf. Havernick, p. 20). 3
C. x. on the Prophets. 4 Panarion,
·Adv. Haeres. 55, 3. 5
Havernick derives this from ji::i:i:,;. According
to the Persian apocryphal version of Daniel, referred to above p. 2,
Daniel was one of the sons of Jehoiakin or Jeconiah (see Zotenberg
op. cit. p. 38).
26 GENEI-:AL INTRODUCTION.

Cyrus, but we find C. x. I, one of his visions, dated in the

third year of that king. According to certain Rabbinical authori-
ties 6, Daniel went back to Jerusalem with the return. of the
eaptivity 7, as he is supposed to have been one of the founders
of the mythical Great Synagogue. Other traditions affirm that
he died in Babylonia and was buried in the royal vault 8,
while the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela (12th century
A. D.) was shown his tomb in s·usa which is also mentioned
by Abulfarag. A good illustration of "DaniePs Tomb" at Susa
will be found in Riehm's Handworterbuch des biblischen
Alterthums, p. 1588. It is perfectly clear that the writer of
the Book of Daniel did not even pretend to give a sketch of
the Prophet's career, but contented himself with merely mak-
ing him· the central figure, about which to group the more or
less disconnected narratives and accounts of visions. In view
of this evident fact and also of the generally inaccurate character
of all the historical statements in the work, there is really no
evidence even to -prove the existence of the Daniel described
in the book bearing his name.
The Author's Source for this Character.
The question at once arises as to where the Maccabroan
writer could have got the name Daniel and his idea of such
a personality. It is hardly probable, in view of certain con-
siderations about to be examined, that he could have invented
both name and character out of whole cloth.
The Daniel of Ezekiel.
There is an allusion in the work of the Prophet Ezekiel to a
Daniel 9 whom he places as a great personality between the two

• Maimon in Heretii Demonstratio Evang. Paris. 1679. p. 231; Elias

Levita in Massoreth ham-Massoreth, Semmler's translation, Halle, 1778.
pp. 18; 25. 7 This ·idea may have arisen from i.· 21, where it is

stated that Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus, e. g. the
yef,l,r when the first detachment of the Jews probably returned to
Palestine. 8
For example, in the Martyrologium Romanum, Babylon
is given as the probable place for his death. 9 Ezekiel xiv. 14; 20;

xxviii. 3.
 CHAI>TER FOURTH. 27
well-known figures of Noah and fob. Ezekiel who was probably
a man of ripe age at the time of the Babylonian deportation
of the Jews would certainly not have mentioned a mere boy
in the same breath with two such characters, much less have
put him between them 10 • CertaiIJ. commentators, however, have
tried to see a peculiar appropriateness in such a juxtaposi-
tion 11• Thus, it has been ingeniously suggested 12 that at the
time of Ezekiel's first mention of Daniel, thirteen or fourteen
years had passed since the deportation of the young Prophet,
ten since his appointment to the position of Head Magus, as
well as six 13 of common exile of Ezekiel and Daniel, and
that during this time Daniel could have had ample oppor-
tunity to display his· wisdom and win the distinction which
Ezekiel gives him. Even if this be granted, it is still diffi-
cult to see how the Daniel of the Babylonian captivity could
have deserved mention in such strange company and in such
a position.
It seems probable that Ezekiel could not have considered
his Daniel as a contemporary of his own, but, owing to the
position given him between two Patriarchs, rather as some
cele_brated ancient prophet. Who this ancient prophet was
cannot possibly be known, as there is not a single trace to
guide research as to his origin and date. There can be no
doubt, however, that he was as celebrated to Ezekiel as were
both Noah and Job, which may be an indication that he is
really a well-known character under the disguise of aJ:!Othcr
name, although this is of course the merest conjecture 14•

10
See in this connection Reuss, op. cit. p. 593; Hitzig, p. viii, and
11
Bertholdt, p. 7. Pusey, Dan. p. 149, says that Job was put last,
because his outward lot was more akin to what Ezekiel had to predict.
Delitzsch RE. iii. p. 271 thought that Noah belonged to the old world,
Daniel to the present and Job to the ideal age; hence the order (see
also Max Werther, Abh. ii. d. Bab. Gefangenschaft 7tes Programm d.
Evang. Fiirstenschule zu Pless). 12 _Kranichfeld, Dan. pp. 10-11;

Keil, Dan. p. 3. u Ez. xl. 1. a ~'or Example, Ritzig, p. viii, sug-

gested that the Daniel of Ezekiel may be Melchfaedek.
28 GENERAL lNTRODUCTION.

A Similar Case in the New Testament.

The analogy of the reference in the New Testament to Jesus
along with Moses and Elias 15 and with Job 16 has been cited
by some as a parallel case, but it should be noticed that in
no instance is Jesus mentioned between the two older names
as is the Daniel of Ezekiel.
Not identical with the Maccabooan Daniel.
It is impossible to identify this mysterious Daniel, who is
ranked by Ezekiel as one of the patriarchs, with the hero of
the Maccabman Book of Daniel17, and it is even difficult, in
the absence of a11 records, to establish any connection be-
tween them. The most that can be said in this connection
is that there may really have been a spiritual leader of the
captive Jews who lived at the Babylonian court and who was
either actually named Daniel, perhaps after the unknown
patriarch mentioned in Ezekiel, or to whom the same name
had been given in the course of tradition by an historical con-
fusion 'of persons 18 • Following this hypothesis, it must be
assumed that the fame of this Judmo-Babylonian prophet had
been handed down through the unclear medium of oral tra-
dition until the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, when some gifted
Jewish author, feeling the necessity of producing a work which
should console his people in their affliction under the per,le-
cutions of that monarch, seized upon the personality of this
Seer, who lived during a time of persecution having many
points of resemblance to the era of Antiochus Epiphanes, and
moulded some of the legends then extant about the life and
activity of the Prophet into such a form as would be best
suited to a didactic purpose.
15 Mattb. xvii. 4; Luke, ix. 33. 1
• James, v. 11. 17 In the addi-

tions to the LXX., Pseudo-Daniel, xiv. 1, Daniel bas been confused

with the Levite mentioned Ezra viii. 2; Neh. x. 6. The Prophet is
called fc(!EV<; ovoµrm davi,j). VlO<; 'A~J'a (see also Zockler, Dan. p. 9).
18 Quite a number of expositors disbelieve entirely in the existence of

such a person as Daniel, considering that all the accounts referring

to him were the fabrication of the Maccabrnan author of the Book.
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 29
The Material in the Narrative Chapters.
With regard to the origin of the stories embodied in the
narrative chapters, but little is known definitely.
An Imitation of Genesis.
+he acconnt in C. ii of the promotion of Daniel_ to be govcr-
nour of Babylon as a reward for his con-ect interpretation of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream is very probably an imitation of the
story of Joseph in Gen. xL.-XLi 19• The points of resemblance
are very striking. In both accounts we have a young Hebrew
raised by the favour of a heathen king to great political pro-
minence, owing to his extraordinary God-given ability as sooth-
sayer and interpreter of dreams. It is noticeable also that in
both versions the heathen astrologers make the first attempt at
solving the difficulty which results in ignominious failure, where-
upon the pious Israclit~, after being summoned to the royal
presence, in both cases through the friendly intervention of a
court official, triumphantly explains the matter to the king's
satisfaction.
Babylonian Traditions.
It can be said with certainty regarding the narrative chapters
that the fundamental traditions on which the following data
are based descended from Babylonian times, although the
author of Daniel received them in a highly distorted form and
employed them merely as a kernel, about which to construct
narratives illustrative of the moral lesson which he wished
to inculcate: -
1. The writer's use of the name of Nebuchadnezzar and his
statements regarding that king show that he had a dim idea
of the extensive power and world-wide celebrity of the great-
est of Babylonian monarchs.
2. The tale of the insanity of Nebuchadnezzar in C. iv. may
be based on an actual occurrence in the great king's life.
3. The use of the name Belshazzar and parts of the story in
C. v. concerning his fate have also an underlying basis of fact.
19
Stade, Geschichte, ii. p. 324.
 30 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

4. Finally, the introduction in C. v. of the Queen Mother

at the feast of Belshazzar shows the survival until Maccabrean
times of a tradition regarding an actual personage who was
alive shortly before the capture of Babylon by the Persians.

L The Personality of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel and

the Developement of the great King's Power.
Regarding the author's idea of Nebuchadnezzar's power, it
may be inferred from the wording of the decrees which he
attributes to that monarch, that the fame of the extent of the
Babylonian influence during .his reign had descended to the
Maccabrean period, for it is stated in Daniel that each pro-
clamation was issued to "all peoples, nations and races (lang-
. uages) that dwell in the earth''.
It is now well-known from the cuneiform inscriptions
dating from the later Babylonian empire that the very summit
of the Semitic power in Western Asia was ·reached during
the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
The Assyrian Conquests.
The later kings of Assyria, especially since the accession
of the usurper Sargon in 722 B. C. (the year of the fall of Sa-
maria), had been constantly engaged in extending and stre:qgth-
ening the conquests which had been begun as early as 1100
B. C. by the first Assyrian Tiglathpileser. When Sargon came
to the throne in Nineveh, he received as an inheritance from
Tiglathpileser iii. (745-727), one of his immediate predecessors,
the whole of Mesopotamia, including all the Babylonian pro-
vinces on the South which had long been subject to the As-
syrian overlordship, as well as most of the country now known
as Armenia on the north, the greater part of Media on the
east, and all of Syria-Palestine on the west. Not content
with this immense territory, which of course required constant
attention to keep intact, Sargon pushed his conquests still
farther into what is now called Asia Minor and even sub-
jugated the greater part of the island of Cyprus. His two
 CHAP'fER FOURTH. 31
successors Esarhaddon (681-668) and AsurMnipal (668-626)
extended their Median territory still further on the cast,
completed the conquest of Cyprus and subdued the whole of
lower Egypt. When in 606, under one of Asnrbanipal's suc-
cessors, Nineveh was razed to the ground by Cyaxares and
his infuriated Medes, who had been chafing for years under
the odious Assyrian tyranny, the overlordship of the Assyrian
tributary states did not, as one might expect, pass to the
victorious Median dynasty which was not yet sufficiently
developed in civilization to be able to manage such a terri-
tory, but was immediately inherited by Assyria's most power-
ful and nearest vassal, the older Semitic state of Babylonia,
whose throne was ascended in 604 by Nebuchadnezzar, the
son of Nabopolassar.
Nebuchadnezzar's Glory.
This monarch (604-561) was a9le not only to keep intact
the empire which he had inherited, which may be seen, for
example, by his vigorous suppression of the rebellious Judrean
vassal kings Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, but also found suffi-
cient leisure practically to rebuild the city of Babylon which
he made the wonder of the then known world 20 • Nearly
every cuneiform document now extant dating from this mon-
arch's reign treats, not of conquest and warfare, like those
of his Assyrian predecessors, but of th~ building and restor-
ation of the walls, temples and palaces of his beloved city
of Babylon. The words, therefore, found in Daniel iv. 30
which the author put into the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar are
literally the truth. "ls not this great Babylon that I have
built for the house of my kingdom by the might of my power
and for the honour of my majesty?" Such a sentence might
well have been uttered by the greatest of Babylonian monarchs
and it cannot be denied that we have here, as well as in
the general conception of Nebuchadnezzar's character through-
2 ° Cf. Herodotus, i. 192 ff., on the Babylonians.
32 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

out the book, a glimmering of true history shining trough

the obscurity of the confused traditions employed by the
author of Daniel.

2. The strange Insanity of Nebuchadnezzar.

The story of Nebuchadnezzar's temporary lunacy next de-
mands our attention. The author states (iv. 31, ff.) that the
great king, as a punishment for his rebellion against the Most
High, "was driven from men, and did eat grass like oxen,
and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs
were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds'
claws". In the course of time, however, Nebuchadnezzar's
reason was restor<;d to him and he returned to his throne
with a better understanding of the divine power.
Two Parallel Accounts.
There are two parallel accounts relating to a mental disorder
of Nebuchadnezzar which should be cited in this connection.
a) Josephus, quoting from the works of the Babylonian
priest Berossus, refers to the illness of Nebuchadnezzar in
the following strange words: "Nebuchadnezzar, falling into a
state of weakness, altered his (manner of) life when he had
reigned 43 years; whereupon his son Evilmerodach obtained
the kingdom'' 21 • In other words, that the great king became
in some way disabled and that for this reason he was suc-
ceeded by his son before his death. There is no allusion
here to a subsequent restoration of Nebuchadnezzar's power,
nor is the peculiar nature of his state of disability described,
both of which details are supplied by the Book of Daniel.
b) Besides this, Eusebius, who is rightly known as the
father of Church history, relates the following marvellous
story of Nebuchadnezzar's end, quoting from the earlier author-
ity Abydenus 22 : "On a certain occasion the king went up
to the roof of his palace and after prophesying the coming of
21 'EµnE<Jwv cl~ ll(!(!WGTlfff µnr/J.ri~l'ffO 1:VV {3iov. Of. Apion, i. 20.
H ~othing is known of the date or nationality of Abydenus.
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 33
the Perilian Cyrus and his conquest of Babylon, suddenly
disappeared" 23 •
Points of Agreement.
There is one point of agreement between all three records
and two between the non~ Biblical accounts; viz., all three
stories agree that Nebuchadnezzar was at one time seriously
affected either bodily or mentally, while Berossus and Aby-
denus are at one in the statement that this .disturbance was
directly followed by his disappearance, e. g. retire1~ent from
public life. The Biblical account and the version of A by-
denus differ regarding the nature and effect of the king's
illness, while the story of Berossus is strictly non-committal
in this particular.

An Historical Basis for the Legend.

In view of the comparatively trustworthy character of the
record of Berossus 2 4, as well as of the partial agreement as
to this matter of three accounts of widely. different origin,
we are forced to believe, in spite of the silence on the sub-
ject of the extant cuneiform documents, that there is some
basis of historical fact for this strange statement of the author
of Daniel. Nothing is known regarding the death of Nebu-
chadnezzar, nor indeed is there any record in the cuneiform
literature of his son Amel-Marduk (the Evilmerodach of
2 Kings) except three contracts which are dated in the first
year of the reign of this king. His name is mentioned in
the Old Testament as the king who released the captive
23 Eusebius, Praep. ix. 41; Chron. i. 59. 24 Berossus was a Baby-

lonian priest of Bel, probably a contemporary of Alexander the Great.

He wrote an extensiv·e work on the manners and beliefs of the Baby-
lonians which has unfortunately been lost. The extracts and quo-
tations from his work which are now extant all occur in the works
of later writers, probably at third hand. There can be little doubt
that Berossus had access to and was able to read the cuneiform
.records, because the data given in the fragments of his work are quite
generally confirmed by a comparison with the recently discovered
cuneiform inscriptions. -
Prince I Daniel. 3
34 GENERAL IN'l'RODUCTION.

Judreau monarch Jehoiakin from prison (2 Kings xxv. 27).

The Ptolemrean Canon also mentions his name, stating that
he reigned two years, while Berossus alludes to him as the
son of Nebuchadnezzar and a dissolute worthless character.
There is nowhere any record as to whether he began to reign
during his father's life-time, nor any account regarding the
death of Nebuchadnezzar. It is not impossible, however, that
the great king was afflicted by a form of insanity which in-
capacitated him from governing and necessitated the accession
of his son. In fact, the partial agreement of the three accounts
renders it highly probable that the king really became insane.
The agreement of Berossus and Abydenus that his insanity
was followed, according to one account by the accession of
Evilmerodach, and according to the other vetsion by his dis-
appearance, would lead us to believe that the disease which
attacked Nebuchadnezzar was the cause of his retirement.
The account in Daniel which makes his insanity come upon
him as a punishment for his contumacy in refusing to recog-
nize the God of the Jews, and which states that the great
king was eventually restored to his senses, after which act
of divine mercy he immediately acknowledged the ·power of
Daniel's God, is undoubtedly the Jewish version of the tra-
dition. The necessity of restoring the _king to health is of
course obvious to every one who recognizes the didactic aim
of the Book of Daniel, .so that we must consider this touch,
as well as the idea that the insanity was a divine punish-
ment sent to chasten Nebuchadnezzar, as embellishments intro-
duced by the Maccabrean author.
Character of the Disease.
The disease as described by the writer of Daniel is the
form of Melancholia known as Insania Zoanthropica 25, un-
doubtedly identical with the medireval "lycanthropy", in which

26 See Trusen, Sitten, Gebrauche und Krankheiten der alten

Hebraer. 1853.
 CHAPTER FOURTH. ' 35
the sufferer, imagining himself to be au animal, generally of
a ferocious nature such as a wolf, roamed about the forests
in a wild state, often actually killing and devouring human
beings. A somewhat milder form of this disease is not un-
known to alienists at the present day 26•

3. :Belshazzar.
The. author's statements regarding the ancestry and· death
of Belshazzar are a curious mixture of true and false tradi-
tions. Previous to the discovery of the cuneiform inscrip-
tions, it was very generally considered that the name Bel-
shazzar was invented by the author of Daniel 27 • It is now
universally admitted, however, that the name of the person
mentioned in the fifth chapter as king of Babylon is identical
with the Babylonian form Belsarur;ur which bas been discov-
ered in the cuneiform documents 28 as the name of the eldest
son of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon 29•
References in the Inscriptions.
Among the various allusions to this prince in the cunei-
form literature, the most important are those in the two in-
scriptions of Ur, and in the annals of Nabonidus, which is
the chief document relating to the fall of Babylon 30• As

26 Cf. Welcher, .Allgem. Ztschr. fiir Psychiatrie, ix. Heft 1, and for

this entire question, Schrader, Die Sage vom Wahnsinn Nebukadnezars,

Jahrbu.cher fiir Protestantische Theologie, vii. pp. 629 ff. 27 So

v. Lengerke, Dan. p. 204; Hitzig, Dan. p. 75. •• Sir Henry Rawlinson

in the ..4.thenteum. March, 1854, p. 341, ".A letter from Bagdad." See
also Oppert, ZDMG. viii. p. 598. 29 The name occurs in the in-

scriptions as that of probably two other persons: a) In Keilinschrift-

liche Bibliothek, ii. p. 60, I. 59, where the ruler of the city of the
Kisesi, one of the tribes conquered by Sargon, is called Belsaruf1,r.
b) The BeUarui;ur son. of Balatu mentioned by Pinches in the New
York Independent, 1889, .Aug. 15, is probably not, as he thinks, the
son of Nabonidus but of some ordinary person, possibly of some one
named after the king's son (?). For the proper name Balatu, see
Peiser, Babyloniscbe V ertrage, No. ix. 1. 2; ZA. vii. p. 66, 2. •• See
Additional Note iii.
3*
36 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

the reference in the small inscription 31 0£ Ur is the most

complete and consequently the most important, a translation
and transcription are here given. In this document Naboni-
dus speaks as follows:
Bak#u sa ume ruquti Life for long days
ana siriqti surqam give as a gift to me
u sa BelsarUQUr and cause to dwell
maru restu in the heart of Belshazzar
rit libbiya my first born son,
puluxti ilutika rabiti the offspring of my body,
l-ibbus suskinma reverence for thy great God-
a irsa head. May he ne'er incline
x#eti to sin,
lak balafu lisbi may he be filled with the
fulness of life.
In the second column 0£ the great inscription of Ur~ 2, the
king, after describing the restoration 0£ the temple 0£ Ebarra
and offering a devout petition to Samas, the sun-god, that the
sacred shrines may now remain uninjured, closes with a prayer
for his own well being and with a supplication for Belsaru~r
his first-born in almost the same words as the above.

Why Belsaru~ur is mentioned here.

Why this especial mention of the king's son occurs in these
inscriptions of Ur is doubtful. It may be conjectured with
Tiele 33 that Belsaru~r was governour 0£ this province in
Southern Babylonia and had Ur as his capital, or it is possible
that Nabonidus attached some special religious importance to

31 Text, I. R. 68, col. ii. 22-23, and Winckler's Keilschrifttexte,

p. 43. Translation, JRAS. xix. (1861), pp. 195 ff.; repeated also, RP. v.
pp. 143 ff., Talbot: Oppert, Expedition en Mesopotamie, i. p. 262.
3 ' KB. iii. pt. 2, p. 82: Belsaru,;wr maru restu ... git(?) libmya iiuriku

umesu, a irsa xiteti, "Belshazzar my first born ... the offspring of my

body, make long his days, may he not incline to sin." Peiser tran-
scribes in the KB. lu (?) iw: In a, probably i;U (?) lilibiya. 33 Ge-

schichte, p. 463.
 CHAPTER FOUR'fH. 37
the cult of the moon-god local in this place. The petition
here that the king's son might not incline to sin may perhaps
indicate that the prince had in some way offended the pre-
judices of the religious classes, who, as is well known, super-
vised the preparation of the inscriptions. From the allusion
to the prince in the annals of Nabonidus it appears that the
son of the king was a number of years 34 with the lords and
army in Akkad, most probably in the capacity of commander-
in-chief, while his father was residing in Terna free from the
cares of government. It is worthy of notice here that in the
annals the name Belsarur,;ur does not occur, the allusion being
merely to the 'son of the king'; but there can be little doubt
that the reference is to the first-born.
Other Allusions in the Inscriptions.
In addition to these three passages from the historical
literature, there are numbers of references to Belsarur,;ur in
the contract tablets, none of which, however, throw any further
important historical light on his character 35•
BeHiaru~ur an important Person.
As Belsarur,;ur is the only king's son mentioned with such
prominence in the Babylonian inscription~ 36, and as it is espe-
cially stated that the lords of the kingdom and army were
with him (probably under his supervision) in Akkad, it seems
highly probable that he was a very important personage in

34 Annals, col. ii. 5, during the seventh year of Nabonidus; col. ii. 10,

during the 10th year. See also col. ii 19 and 23. ' 6 See· Additional
Note iv. 36 Compare, however, Nabopol. col; ii. 69. KB. iii. pt. 2, 4,

mention of Nebuchadnezzar; and col. iii. 6 ff. of Nabusulisir, his brother.

In later documents mention is made of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, as
co-regent and king of Babylon during his father's lifetime. See Tiele,
Geschichte, pp. 483; 484 and BA. iii. pp. 445-6. In the inscription
of Antiochus · Soter, V. R. 66, 25 (KB. iii. pt. 2, p. 138, 25), mention is
made of Seleucus, his son and vice-king. Delattre, Solomon, Asur•
banipal et Baltasar, 1883, p. 5, compares, in connection with Belsarucwr,
the cases of Solomon and Asurbanipal, both of whom exercised the
vice -regal dignity during the life of their respective fathers.
38 GENERAL IN'rRODUCTION.

the government, a theory which is strengthened by the £act

that his father, Nabonidus, was more of an archreologist than
a ruler, and far more interested in the discovery of a for-
gotten site than in the affairs •of his kingdom. Belsarw;ur,
therefore, as some critics have argued 31, may have really been
co-regent; but, as will be seen subsequently, the author of the
Book of Daniel could not, as they thought, have had this idea
in mind in calling him king of Babylon.
Differences between the Book of Daniel and the Inscriptions.
Comparing the Belsaru,;ur of the inscriptions with Belshaz-
zar of the Book of Daniel, the following important differences
arc apparent. The former was the son of the last king of
Babylon, but never reigned except possibly as co-regent, while
the latter is distinctly called the last king and the son of
Nebuchadnezzar. There can be little doubt that both of these
statements were made by the author of_ Daniel in perfect good
faith.
The Author of Daniel thought Belshazzar was the last king.
A number of commentators 38 have sought to prove that the
Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel was not necessarily meant
87 Floigl, Cyrus und Herodot, p. 24; Andrea, Beweis des Glaubens,

1888. p. 249; Smith, Dictionary of the Bible; Meinhold, Dissertation,

p. 30. n. 2, etc. 38 So Marsham, Canon chron., pp. 596 ff.; Conring,

Advers. Chron. c. xiii; Harenherg, Dan. i1. pp. 454 ff.; Hofmann, Die
70 Jahre d. Jeremia u. d. 70 Jahrwochen d. Daniel, p. 44; Havernick,
Neue kritische Unters., pp. 72 ff.; M. v. Niebuhr, Geschichte Assurs u.
Babels, p. 42; Wolff, Stud. u. Krit., 1858, p. 684, note a; Ziindel, Dan.
p. 33; Unger, Kyaxares u. Astyages pp. 28-9. Keil, Dan. p. 145,
although knowing of the discovery of the name in the inscriptions,
thought that the Bel.forui;ur, son of Nabonidus, must have been named
after Belshazzar•Evilmerodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar. Quatremere;
Annales de la Philosophic Chretienne , 1838 , advanced the theory in
support of Jer. xxvii. 7 that Nabonidus as an usurper, associated with
himself Belshazzar, son of Evilmerodach and grandson of Ne buchad-
nezzar, in order to strengthen his position. The view that Belshazzar
and Nabonidus were identical was held by Josephus (Ant. x. 11, 2),
where he states that "Baltasar" was called "Naboandelus" by the
Babylonians. Cf. also "Contra Apionem," i. c. 20. This idea was
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 39
by the author as the last king of Babylon, but was intended
for Evilmerodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar 39; a view advanced
in support of the stat~ment in v. 2, that Belshazzar was the
son of Nebuchadnezzar. Following this theory, some consid-
ered Belshazzar merely a secondary name ,rn. It is difficult
to understand, however, how the author could, make Daniel
declare to the Babylonian monarch that his kingdom was about
to pass to the Medes and Persians, unless the prophecy were
intended for the last king. There would be little point in
such a warning, if it were given a generation before its actual
fulfillment. We may compare in this connection the indifference
of Hezekiah to the prophecy of Isaiah of the ultimate depor-
tation to Babylon and degradation there of the Jewish royal
family. In Isaiah xxxix. 8, Hezekiah said "Good is the word
of the Lord, which thou hast spoken . . . for there shall be
peace and truth in my days". In addition to this, it is evi-
dent that if the author of Daniel did not really regard his ·
Belshazzar as the last king of Babylon, bnt as Evilmerodach,
he must have omitted without mention a period of twenty
years between the death of the latter and the foreign supre-
macy; i. e. that between the two contiguous and closely related
statements of the death of Belshazzar and the accession of
Darius the Mede, the reigns of several kings were passed

followed by J. D. Michaelis, Dan. :p. 46; Bertholdt, Dan. p. 344; Bleek,

Kirms, Hengstenberg; Havernick, Dan. p. 172; Ewald Gesch., v. p. 85,
note; Herzfeld, Gesch., i. p. 154; Browne, Ordo Saeclorum, p. 178. -
Sulpitius Severns, Hist., ii. p. 6, considered Belshazzar a younger
brother of Evilmerodach, both being sons of Nebuchadnezzar. -
Scaliger (see Isagogicorum chronologire canonum libri tres., iii, p. 190)
and Calvisius, who were followed by Ebrard, Comm. zur Offenbarung
Johannis, p. 45, and Delitzsch RE.•, iii. p. 472, identified him with
Laborosoarchod (Labasimarduk), son of Neriglissar.
3 9 The list of the later Babylonian kings is as follows: Nabopola.ssar,

625-604; Nebuchadnezzar, 604-561; Amel-Marduk (Evilmerodach),

561-559; Labasi-Marduk, 559: reigned only 9 months; Neriglissar,
559-555; Nabonidus, 555-538; Cyrus took Babylon, 538. '° So
Zundel, Dan. p. 26; Niebuhr, Geach. p. 30, etc.
40 GENEHAL INTRODUCTION.

over in silence. That an author should do this knowingly

without a word of explanation, as some writers have sought
to show, seems a preposterous supposition 41• It appears per-
fectly clear that the Biblical author regarded Belshazzar as
the last king of Babylon before the corning of the Medes and
Persians.
Belshazzar not Co-Regent.
As ~emarked above, certain critics have held the view that
because BelsaruQur may have been co-regent with his father,
the Biblical writer, knowing this, gave his Belshazzar the title
of king. A conclusive answer to this has been given by Professor
Driver who states u that there are certain contract tablets
published by Strassmaier and bearing date continuously from
the reign of Nabonidus to that of Cyrus, which show that
neither Belshazzar nor Darius the Mede (supposing the latter
to have been historical) could have received_ the title of king
in any capacity whatsoever. If Belshazzar really had been
co-regent, however, we would not expect to find him with the
unqualified title "King of Babylon" without any further ex-
planation. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, was undoubtedly co-
regent and bore the title King of Babylon during his father's
life-time, but in the contract which dates from his first year
it is expressly stated that Cyrus was still ''king of the lands".
This statement should be contrasted with Dan. viii. 1, where
reference is made to the third year of "Belshazzar, King of
Babylon", without any mention of another over-ruler. Had the
author of Daniel really believed that Belshazzar was co-regent
it is reasonable to suppose that he would in some way have
qualified the title "King of Babylon".

u Cf. Ziindel and Kranichfeld, Dan. pp. 25; 28, who believed that
Belshazzar was Evilmerodach, and explained this silence regarding
the intervening period and the connection of two statements so far
apart, by supposing that they were brought together because the
latter was the sequence of the former! •• Introduction 3 , p. xxii.
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 41
Belshazzar not the Son of Nebuchadnezzar.
Furthermore, the statement that Belshazzar was the son of
Nebuchadnezzar shows conclusively that the historical know-
ledge of the author of Daniel was considerably_ at fault. Certain
commentators haye endeavoured, to prove that this statement
may be in accordance with the facts, i. e. that ''son" here is
to be translated "descendant" or "grandson". It is of course
perfectly true, as Dr. Pu;;ey has remarked, that :.~ and ,:.
(Aramaic ""I:.) are used, not only of the actual father and son,
but also of the grandfather or grandimn, and ancestor or de-
scendant in general 43 • The way, however, in which Nebuchad-
nezzar is referred to in the fifth chapter shows plainly that
the author could have had no knowledge of the intervening
kings, but considered Nebuchadnezzar as the actual father of
Belshazzar. In the first place, the narrath·e of chapter v.
follows directly on the chapters concerning Nebuchadnezzar and
begins with the unqualified assertion that Belshazzar was the son
of that monarch; and seconrJ];y, the remark of Belshazzar in
v. 13, "so thou art Daniel .... whom the king my father brought
from Judrea'', would be ambiguous if the king were referring
to his grandfather or an ancestor. In this case we would ex-
pect the repetition of the name Nebuchadnezzar to indicate
to which "father'' the king was alluding. But even if the words
"father" and "son" of the fifth chapter really were used for
"grandson" and "grandfather'', there is no proof that Belsaru9ur
was in any way related to NebuchadnezzarH. Nabonidus, his

•• Compare Pusey, Dan. p. 346. There is no distinctive word, either

in Hebrew or Aramaic for grandfather or grandson. Jn later Hebrew,
Buxtorf gives 'it?J, "grandfather", fem. ti,mt- u Auberlen, Dan., p. 16,
thought that Belshazzar was called son of Nebuchadnezzar, just as
Omri was considered by the Assyrians as father of the house of Israel.
"Father", however, cannot be used of the unrelated predecessors, as
Pusey (Dan., p. 347) sought to show. Wherever it is used in this
connection, as in the above cited case, it is an error as to the real
relationship. The passage in Sargon which Pusey cites in support of
his view, believing that Sargon was no relation to the preceding
kings, is very doubtful, and probably does not contain the words
42 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

father, was the son of a nobleman, NabubalatsuiqbiH, and was

probably a leader in the conspiracy against his predecessor,
Labasi-Marduk. .As far as is known, he was not related to
any of the preceding kings. Had Nabonidus been descended
from Nebuchadnezzar he could hardly have failed to boast of
such a connection with the greatest Babylonian monarch, yet
in none of his inscriptions does he trace his descent beyond
his father. Some scholars have tried to obviate the difficulty
by supposing that Nabonidus, in order to strengthen his dynasty,
married a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and that in this way
Belsarugur was the great king's grandson, a theory which_ in
the absence of records cannot possibly be proved 46•

Identity of Belilarm~ur and Belshazzar.

The similarity of name and the facts, -(i,rst, that the historical
Belsarugur of the inscriptions was the son of the last king
of Babylon, while the Belshazzar of Daniel is represented as
being himself the last king, and, secondly, that it has been
established quite lately, that the son of Nabonidus probably
met his death at the time of the capture of Babylon, in partial
agreement with the Biblical account concerning Belshazzar,
prove beyond reasonable doubt that_ the son of Nabonidus 1s
the original of the king in the Biblical account 47 •

sarru abiya, "the king, my father". Cf. Winckler's Sargon, ii., xiii.,
but also Tiele, Gesch. p. 254-5, rem. 2. .
° KB. iii pt. 2, p. 96, line 6. 46 Note that Bertholdt, Bleek,
Kirms, Havernick, Hitzig and Schrader, are all agreed that the author
considered Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar. n Talbot, Records
of the Past, v. p. 143, doubts the identity of the Biblical Belshazzar
with the Belsarui;ur of the inscriptions, supposing that the account is
told of some other person with this name, which he asserts to be a
common one. As the name Belsarui;ur occurs only twice in the
published inscriptions of another than the son of Nabonidus (see
below, Additional Note iv.), until the hypothetical "other person" be
discovered, it is certainly consistent with good judgment to regard
Belsaru,;;ur, son of Nabonidus and the Belshazzar of Daniel as identical.
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 43

Main Theme of C. v.
The force of the story would have been materially weakened
had the author known and made use of the names of the kings
intervening between Nebuchadnezzar and the last king. The
whole point of the fifth chapter, as brought out, for example,
in the mysterious sentence, is a comparison between the great
Nebuchadnezzar, the real founder of the Babylonian monarchy;
the insignificant last king who had allowed the reins of govern-
ment to slip from his feeble hands; and the coming stranger
people who should divide between them the empire of Ne-
buchadnezzar.

4. The Queen-M9ther.
The last point which should be noticed in this connection
is the introduction of the queen-mother, i. e. the motlier of
Nabonidus, into the story. According to v. 10, the· queen
entered the hall and suggested that the Jewish prophet Daniel
be called to interpret the mysterious writing. There can be .
little doubt that the author was referring to the Queen Dowager,
the mother of the last king of Babylon. The mother of Na-
bonidus, however, died in the ninth year of his reign, as is
now known from the Annals, c. ii. 13, just eight years before
the occupation of Babylon by Cyrus, so that her presence at
0

a feast held towards the close of the reign of Nabonidus

would be clearly impossible. It might be argued that the
reference in C. v. may be to the wife of N abonidus, the
mother of Belsarutur, but, as we have seen, there is little
doubt that the author of Daniel regarded Belshazzar (Belsaru-
QUr) as actually king and knew nothing of Nabonidus; so it
seems only possible to assert that he considered the queen
alluded to in this verse as the reigning monarch's mother, con-
cerning whom some tradition had most probably descended to
:Maccabrnan times. As the author had evidently confused the
personality of Nabonidus and "his son Belsarutur, it was only
natural that he or the tradition which he was using should
44 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

introduce the Queen Dowager as the mother of the latter

whom he supposed to have been actually King.
The Subject Matter.
The four important points just discussed constitute all the
data which can be said with certainty to have descended from
the Babylonian times, e. g. from· the. very p~riod in which the
scene of the work is laid. The subject matter of the stories,
on the other hand, must be considered, either to be the fabri-
cation of the writer of the Book, or else, to consist of adapta-
tions by the author of extremely inaccurate current popular
tales. This latter theory seems more satisfactory than the
former view, because, as has been shown, in at least one case
the writer probably remodelled a scriptural account, in order
to suit his own purpose, and it is not improbable, therefore,
tha't he may have made use of other non-Biblical tales of
whose origin nothing is known.

CHAPTER FIFTH.
DARIUS THE MEDE.
The chronological errors regarding the accession of Nebu-
chadnezzar, the contradictory statement concerning the date
of his dream, as well as the historically incorrect as~ertion
that Belshazzar was the son of Nebuchadnezzar have already
been brought to the reader's notice. .A special chapter, however,
is needed to consider the most serious error into which the
author of Daniel fell; viz., the statement (v. 31) that a Median
king, Darius, received the kingdom after the fall of the native
Babylonian house.
Cyrus the Conqueror of :Babylon.
It is well known that Babylon was captured by Cyrus the
Persian, who, some time previously, had obtained possession
of Media and its King .Astyages. It is evident too, from Daniel
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 45
i. 21 ; ·x. I. that the Biblical writer was perfectly aware of the
exis~nce of Cyrus. From his introduction of a Median Darius
directly after the fa]l of Belshazzar, it must be concluded that
the author of the Book of Daniel believed in the existence of
a Median king between the Babylonian and Persian dynasties.
The fact, however that in no other scriptural passage 1 is
mention made of any Median ruler between the last king of
Babylon and Cyrus, and the absolute silence of the most
authoritative ancient authors regarding such a king, have cast
serious doubt on the accuracy of the Book of Daniel in this
particular.
Xenophon•s Cyaxares.
Various attempts have been made to vindicate the historical
character of this Darius the Mede 2 • The opinion has been
very generally advanced that he was identical with the Cya-
1 See Isaiah, xliv. :ff. Compare also the legend of Bel and the
Dragon, verse I, and the Greek translations LXX. and @ of. Dan. xi. 1,
where the name of Cyrus is substituted for that of Darius. 2 Note

in this connection, Josephus, Ant. x. 11, 4, followed by Jerome on

Dan. v. I; vi. 1 (Opp. ed. Vallarsi, t.v. pp. 651; 657), Josephus stated
that Babylon was captured by Darius who w~s the son of Astyages
and had another name among the Greeks. Many commentators
attempted to prove the historical character of Darius the Mede;
Delitzsch, Haverniek, Hengstenberg etc. Some expositors considered
that this Darius was identical with Astyages; thus, Syncellus, Chron.
p. 232, Niebuhr and more lately Unger, Cyaxares und Astyages,
pp. 26-28. Others sought to show that Darius the Mede was a near
relative of Astyages. Compare Quatremere, Memoires sur Darius le Mede
et Baltasar, pp. 380-381, who considered him Astyages' nephew. Ibn
Ezra (Hitzig, Dan. p. 76), thought that he was the father-in-law of
Cyrus. Klein, Schulz, op. cit., p. 684, and Zundel regarded him as a
younger brother of Astyages. Ebrard Scheuchzer, Scaliger, in the
Appendix of his De emend. temporum and in Isagogicorum chrono-
logiae canonum libri tres. iii. pp. 291 and 315, Petavius, and Buddeus,
(see Zockler, p. 34) thought him identical with Nabonidus. Conring,
Advers. Chron., c. 13, Bouhier, Dissertation sur Herodote, p. 29, Haren·
berg, ii. pp. 434 ff., regarded him as identical with N eriglissar.
Hengstenberg, Dan., p. 328, identified him with Bahman, who accord-
ing to. Persian tradition (Mirchond) dethroned Belshazzar and appointed
Cyrus; but cf. v. Lengerke, Dan., pp. 224:lf. etc., etc.
46 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

xares, son of Astyages, mentioned iq Xenophon's Cyropredia 3,

and in support of this theory reference has been made to the
lines of lEschylus, Persm, 762-:765 :-
"The first commander of the army was a Median.
Then his son completed the work ;
For his good sense- governed his zeal.
The third after him was Cyrus, a prosperous man 4," etc.
This "first Commander of. the army" was supposed to refer
to Astyages, while the "son'' of the following line was under-
stood to be the Cyaxares mentioned in the Cyropredia 5, As
a further proof of identity, the age of the Darius of Daniel,'
sixty-two years, has been cited as a point of agreement with
the account that Cyaxares, having no hope of a male heir
owing to his age, gave Cyrus his daughrer and made him his
successor 6.
Xenophon and Herodotus.
It may be well in this connection to compare the data of
Xenophon regarding the last Median kings with those of
Herodotus on the same subject. It should be noticed, first,
that Herodotus ends the Median dynasty with Astyages, while

3
Cf. Xen. Cyrop., i. 5, 2. Ilf!Otono,; rfe TOV Xf!OPOV O µiv AIJJ:V«yr;,;
iv To'i,; M11rfoi, dno:J-v111J,m, o tie Kua~ci(lr;, J Toii ,AIJTv«yov,; nai,, Tij,;
Ji Kv(!Vtl µr;T(!O, rlifelcpo,, T't/P {3wrt~dav foxe TWP M11ifwv. - For the
opinion that Darius the Mede was identical with Cyaxares, see, for
example, Havernick, Dan., p. 206; Keil, Dan., p. 165; Kranichfeld,
Dan., p. 44; Lengerke, Dan., p. 220; .Andrea, Beweis d. Glaubens, xxv.
p. 57, Meinhold Dissertation, pp. 33 ff., and others mentioned ahove.
• Mijoo, yci(! ~p o n(!WTO,; ifyeµwv IJT(!aTOiJ.
''.A).lo, ff't!xElvov nai,; Toif' Ef!YOV ijvvlJE,
4>f!EPli,; yci(! a-rhoii 8-uµov olaXOIJT(!O<pOVP.
T(!lTo,; rf'an' IXVTOV KiJev,, evrJ«iµwv «1'1)1?•
5 So Hitzig, Dan., p. 77; Keil, Dan., p. 165. • See Cyropredia, viii.
5, 19 and Havernick, Dan., p. 206. Some commentators, who identified
Xenophon's Cyaxares with the Median Darius, explained the silenee
of Herodotus and other writers regarding Cyaxares by supposing that
the latter reigned too short a .time .to have given his name to history;
but this does not, of course, explain the silence of Xenophon himself
in the Anabasis about the fabulous Cyaxares.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 47
Xenophon adds a son, Cyaxares. Secondly, according to Herod-
otus, Cyrus was only related to the Median house by being
the son of Astyages' daughter. Xenophon · adds to this that
Cyrus married the daughter of Cyaxares (his first cousi~), and
inherited with her the Median empire. Thirdly, according to
the account of Herodotus, Cyrus took part in the rebellion
instigated by Harpagus and conquered his grandfather Asty-
ages, capturing Media. Herodotus' account of the conquest of
Babylon contains no reference to any Median prince. Xeno-
phon relates, however, that Cyrus, after quarreling with Cya-
xares, became reconciled to him and gave him royal honors
after the Babylonian campaign. Herodotus, as will be seen
from the above 7, had no knowledge of any Median king be-
tween Astyages and Cyrus, nor of any special Median occupa-
tion of Babylon, and in this respect his account is substantiated
by the cuneiform records. It should be noticed that neither
Berossus nor any other ancient author knows of a Median
rule after the fall of Babylon 8•

The Cuneiform Records.

In the annals of Nabonidus and the· Cyrus Cylinder, no
mention whatever occurs of any ruler of Media between Asty-
ages and Cyrus 9 nor of any king of Babylon intervening be-
tween Nabonidus· and Cyrus. On the contrary, it is stated
that Cyrus became master of Media by conquering Astyages,
and. that the troops of the King of Persia, capturing Babylon,
took Nabonidus prisoner. Cyrus himself entered the city nine
months later.

7 Cf. also Ktesias, Pers. ii. 5; Diodorus Siculus, ii. 24. 8 For the

legends regarding Cyrus in general and especially in connection with

the account of Herodotus, cf. Floigl, Cyrus und Herodot; Bauer, Die
Cyrussage, etc. For the chronology of Cyrus' reign see Tiele, Gesch.
p. 483; Budinger, Die i'ieuentdeckten lnschriften iiber Cyrus, 1884. p. 39
and Oppert and Menant, Documents Juridiques, p. 262, and see below
Comm. on vii. 1. • Annals, ii. 1-4.
48 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Identification of Darius and Cyaxares impossible.

In view of these facts, it is difficult to · see where an inter-
mediate reign can be inserted, either in Media, directly after
Astyages, or in Babylonia after Nabonidus. It should be men-
tioned, moreover, that the Cyaxares of the Cyropmdia is not
recorded as having ruled in Babylon, but merely to have re-
ceived royal quarters in that city 10• An identification between
Darius the Mede and the Cyaxares, son of Astyages, of Xeno-
phon's romance, is, therefore, open to the serious objection
that the existence of this latter person, contrary to all other
accounts, is extremely doubtful. It should be remembered
that the narrative of the Cyropmdia resembl~s the Book of
Daniel in that it was not written for an historical but for a
moral purpose. It is enough to quote Cicero, who remarked
"Cyrus was not described by Xenophon for the sake of giving
a true account, but rather as the model of a just ruler'' 11 •
It is perhaps a little harsh, therefore, to characterize Xeno-
phon's. work, with Niebuhr as a "miserable and foolish ro-
mance" 12 • With respect to the peaceful succession of Cyrus
to the Median Empire, Xenophon, in his more historical work,
the Anabasis, iii. 4, expressly stated that the Mcdcs succumbed
to the victorious arms of Cyrus. The Cyropmdia, therefore,
representing the peaceful passage of the empire of the East
from Astyages to Cyaxares his son, and from the latter to Cyrus,
can only be giving some fanciful embellishment.
Origin of Xenophon's Cyaxares.
It is probable that this Cyaxares of the Cyropmdia arose
from a confusion of facts. The father of Astyages was the
famous Cyaxarcs, and Xenophon, by a confusion of history,
must have believed, when '\\'.Iiting his romance, that Astyages
preceded Cyaxares, and that the latter was the last king of
1 ° Cyrop::edia, viii. 5, 17. 11 Ad Quintum Fratrem, Lib. i. 1, 8:

Cyrus ille a Xenophonte non ad historiae fidem Slffiptus est, sed ad

effigiem justi imperii. 12 "Einen elenden und liippischen Roman"

(Vortrage iiber alte Gesch. i. p. 116).

 CHAPTER FIFTH. 49
his dynasty 13 • Even had this fabulous second Cyaxares existed,
however, an identification between him and Darius the Mede,
would be impossible, owing to the difference of the names of
their respective fathers. The latter is called in chapter ix. 1,
the son of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), a name which could never be
considered the same as Astyages.
The Darius of Eusebius.
The attempt to identify the Darius of Danid with the King
Darius mentioned in the Armenian Chronicle of Eusebius 14
can hardly be regarded as satisfactory. According to this
passage it is stated that after Cyrus gave the last king .of
Babylon the province of Carmania, Darius drove out some ·
one from that region; probably N abonidus. There is every
reason to believe that this Darius is no other than Darius
Hystaspis to.. It is possible that Nabonidus, the last king of
Babylon, whom Cyrus dethroned in 538 B. C., and, according
to the record of Berossus, sent to Carmania, may have remained
in that province until the· time of Darius Hystaspis. The
Persian king, perhaps enraged by some attempt of Nabonidus
to rebel, may have expelled him froqi his province as ·the
account of .Megasthenes seems to state. The idea can hardly
be entertained that there is an allusion here to an earlier
Darius.
The Coin Darik.
Finally, the argument based on the authority of Suidas
and Harpocration 16, . that the coin darik, was called, not after

13 Dela.ttre, Medes,, p. 170. 14 Armenian Cbron. ed. Schoene, i.

p. 41, quoting from the account of Abydenus from Megasthenes.

15 Even Pusey; Dan. p. 159 had to admit that this was possible; see

also Kranichfeld, Dan. p. 45; v. Lenge1·ke, Dan. p. 228. 1 • Suidas

said .daeuxot , , , , , , , ovx «no .daecio11 TOV :St!e~ov nareo,;, ,;u, dqy'
f;TS(!OV 'nvo, na1.awdeov (3mnUw,; wvo,uaG{)rJGllV. See also Hultsch,
Metrologicorum· sc:riptorum reliquiae, i. p. 345, 21 ff. Cf. also Harpo-
cration, s. v. ·schol. ad Aristoph. 1 ff.; Eccl. 602: h1.,j9'rJGrw tYi dcienxoi
ovx <W,; ot nlEiovi; 110/J-iCovaw, dno Liaeclot, TOV :Sie~ov narea,, aH' rhp'
frteo1• ....... (3mnUw, . .See Hultsch, op. cit. i. p. 315, 1. 17; p. 348, l. 20.
Prince, Daniel. 4
 50 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Darius Hystaspis, as many have supposed, but after an older

monarch of this name, probably the Median Darius of Daniel 1 7,
is also in view of modern researches extremely doubtful 18 •
No Room for Darius the Mede.
If there is no room in history for this Median king of the
Book of Daniel, and it appears consequently that such a ruler
could not have existed, but that Media passed from Astyagcs,
and Babylon from Nabonidus, to Cyrus, how is it possible to
account for this interpolation of a Median rule in the Book
of Daniel?
The theory is not tenable that Darius the Mede was a
M~dian prince to whom Cyrus had given Babylon as a re-
ward for his services 19, nor can we suppose him to have
been a sort of satrap or vice-king 20• The author of Daniel
represents Darius with full kingly powers. Darius divides
the empire into one hundred and twenty satrapies (C. vi. 1);
he signs a royal decree making it unalterable law (C. vi. 7, 8);
. he issues a proclamation to all peqples, nations and languages
that dwell in the earth (C. vi. 25); and the author dates ac-
cording to his reign and refers nowhere to any overlord
(Q. ix. 1).
The question may be divided into two heads: First, Why
does the author of Daniel believe that the Medes held Baby-
lon before the Persians? Second, Why does he call his
· Median king by the familiar name of Darius?
The Median History.
1. In order to answer the first question it seems necessary
to give a very brief outline of the Median history. Accord-
ing to the record of Herodotus, the Median kingdom was
founded by Deiok~s. If the chronology of the Greek historian

n See Cook's Bible Commentary, vi. p. 314; Andrea, op. cit. p. 49;
Hengstenberg, Dan. p. 51; Havernick, Untersuch. p. 78, etc. 1 • See

Additional Note v. '" So Vignolles, CEuvres, ii. pp. 510 ff., followed
by Lenormant, Manual of the Ancient History of the East, p. 490.
• 0 So Andrea, op. cit. p. 55; Pusey, Dan. p. 160.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 51

is at all correct, DeioMs must have founded his kingdom, as

Tiele has pointed out 21, during the. reign of Sennacherib in
Assyria (705-681 B. C.).
Phraortes.
This whole question, however, is very uncertain and has little
bearing on what follows. The son of Deiokes was Phraortes,
who is really the first historical king of Media. According to
Herodotus he must have reigned from 646 until 625 B. C.
Following the account of Herodotus, not content with ruling
over the Medes alone, Phraortes marched against and subju-
gated the Persians. Then, at the head of the combined forces
of Persians and Medes, he set out to conquer Asia, passing
from one people to the other. :F'inally, he attacked the Assy-
rians, at that time isolated by the defection of their allies, and
not only suffered defeat but was killed during the expedition,
having ruled twenty-two years. His reign coincides with the
last twenty-two years of that of Asnrbanipal. As Tiele re-
marks 21, it is certainly striking that this latter king never
followed the example of his predecessors in attacking Media.
The probable reason was that the power of Phraortes was
too great to admit of such an attempt. If we accept the
chronology of Herodotus, the year of Phraortes' attack on
Nineveh, 625 B. C., coincides with the time of the death of
Asurbanipal and the defection of Babylon from the Assyrian
rule. • In spite of her difficult positio.n, however, Assyria
seemed still to have possessed sufficient power to east off
the Medes for a time.
Cyaxares.
Phraortes was succeeded by his son Cyaxares, who com-
pleted his father's work; and under this monarch the Median
power reached the summit of its greatness. According to
the account of Herodotus (i. 73, 74), Cyaxares carefully reor-
21 Gesch. p. 408; for an historical examination of the foundation of

Media, see Delattre, Medes, pp. 129 ff.

4*
52 GENERAL IN'I'RODUCTION.

gamzmg the Median army; dividing the spearmen, archers,

and cavalry into separat-¥ troops, marched with his entire
force against Nineveh, intending, in vengeance for the defeat
and death of his father, completely to destroy the city. His
first siege, owing to the Scythian irruption into his kingdom,
he was forced to raise, but finally, shaking off the barbarians,
he besieged Nineveh anew and at length made an end of the
Assyrian power.
The Fall of Nineveh.
According to the account of Berossus, which may be trust-
worthy, the Babylonian king, whose son Nebuchadnezzar was
married to the daughter of the Median chief, helped the Medes
in this siege 22• · It should be noticed here that Berossus and
the authors dependent on him did not know of Cyaxares, but
believed that Nineveh was conquered by Astyages. Accord-
ing to the account of Abydenus, however, the king of Baby-
lon Busalossor (Nabopolassar), having manied his son Nabu-
kodrossoros to the daughter of the Median chief Asdahak,
proceeded alone against Nineveh 23 •
About the details of the fall of Nineveh there is no record
either. in Herodotus or in the cuneiform inscriptions, the last
Assyrian .kings of whom we have any docwnent being Asur-
etil-ilani-ukinni and Sin-sar-iskun 24 • Herodotus, i. 107, mere-
ly mentioned the capture of Nineveh by the Medcs, giving
no detailed account, while in the Assyrian inscriptions there
is absolutely no reference to the event. Equally silent are
the docwnents of N abopolassar, the father of N cbuchadnezzar
and first independent king of Babylon, in which, in view of
the statement of Berossus, just mentioned, we might expect
to find some allusion to the overthrow of Assyria.

22 Tiele, Gesch., p. 410. 23

Asdahak is the Armenian form of
Astyages. For this and fuller ancient opinions regarding the part of
the Babylonians in the fall of Nineveh, we may compare Delattre;
Les Chaldeens jusqu'a la formation de l'Empire de Nabochodonossor
and Tie le Gesch., pp. 414; 421. 24 See Bezold, Lit. p. ,122.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 53
Winclder's opinion, based on the silence of Herodotus, re-
garding the participation of the Babylonians in the siege of
Nineveh, was that the Medes captured the Assyrian capital
alone. This view has been rightly objected to by Lehrnann 25 •
An argumentum ex silentio is at best poor reasoning. More-
over, Tiele has pointed out that the continuation of the Baby-
lonian power would have been impossible had Nabopolassar
remained neutral in the war between Media and Assyria 26•
The statement of Berossus then, regarding the Babylonian
and Median alliance against Assyria seems to commend itself
to good judgment.
The Chief Facts.
At any rate the chief facts are certainly clear: Nineveh
was destroyed, - so thoroughly that Xenophon, when crossing
Asia in 401 B. C. with the ten thousand, mistook the ruins
of the great <;ity for those• of Median towns laid waste by
the Persians 27 • It seems generally recognized, and the opi-
nion of almost all antiquity (the untrustworthy records of
Abydenus excepted), that the Medes played the chief part in
the ruin of Assyria, and it is likely that in this historical
fact lies the key to the solution of the problem of Darius
the Median.
Confusion of History.
The interpolation by the author of Daniel of a Median
rule in Babylon directly after the fall of the Babylonian
house may possibly depend on a confusion between the story
of the fall of Nineveh and the account of the overthrow of
Babylon. Nineveh fell at the hands of the Medes. Some
authors might differ as to the name of the Median prince
who destroyed it, but it seems to have been generally recog-
nized by the ancients that the Medes captured and overthrew
the city. Babylon on the other hand was conquered by Cyrus

2 • Samassumukin, ii. pp. 185. 2

• ZA. vii. p. 19. 27
See Anabasis,
iii. 4; iv. 12; also Zeph. ii. 13-15.
54 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

the Persian, who had but a few years previously subdued

these same Medes to his standard.
It should. be noted, moreover, that even in exilic times,
when the Persians must have been well known, the terms
Mede and Persian were used almost synonymously. Thus,
in Is. xiii. 17; Jer. li. 11; 28. the conquest of Babylon by
the Medes is prophesied. It is not surprising, therefore,
that an author writing at a much later period and having
no hif')torical, but rather a moral object in view should
confuse, on the one hand, the accounts of the fall of the
two great cities 1?£ the ancient world and be uncertain,
on the other hand, regarding the nan1e of the conquering
people. The author of Daniel, probably influenced both
by the story of the fall of Nineveh and by this con-
fusion of the names Mede and 'Persian, makes a Median
ruler receive Babylon after the overthrow of the native dy-
nasty, and then mentions later the historical Cyrus. We may
suppose that the Biblical writer believed that Cyrus suc-
ceeded to the empire of Babylon on the death of ~the
Median Darius.
2. The second question, however, still remains unanswered.
Why did the author of the Book of Daniel give to his ficti-
tious Median king the familiar name of Darius?
As early as the eleventh century of our era the view was
advan'ced by the Benedictine monk, Mari.anus Scotus 28, that
Darius the Mede was Darius Hystaspis, and, on examining
certain points in the account of Daniel, it will appear that
this idea will lead us to the correct solution of the difficulty.
In chapter ix. 1, Darius the Mede is said to be the son of
Xerxes (Ahasuerus), and it is stated that he established one
hundred and twenty satrapies; Darius Hystaspis was the
father of Xerxes and according to Herodotus, iii. 89, estab-
lished twenty satrapies. Darius the Mede entered into pos-

~8 Bertholdt, Dan. p. 844.

 CHAPTER FIFTH. 55
session of Babylon after the death of Belshazzar; Darius
Hystaspis conquered Babylon from the hands of the rebels 29 •
It seems clear from this comparison, and in view of the im-
possibility of reconciling with history the existence of a Median
ruler of Babylon, that the name Darius in Daniel is due to
a confusion with that of the son of Hystaspis 30•
Just as Xenophon made Cyaxares the son of Astyages, so
the writer of Daniel must have made his Darius the son of
Xerxes, the Hebrew form of whose name he probably bor-
rowed from Esther or Ezra, and, in addition to this, trans-
ferred in a distorted form certain facts of the reign of Darius
Hystaspis to the reign of Darius the Mede. The idea as
stated by Friedrich Delitzsch 31, that the original of Darius
the Median may have been Cyrus' general Gubaru (Gobryas),
who captured Babylon, seems very unsatisfactory.
The origin of Darius the Mede.
Darius the Mede appears therefore to have been the product
of a mixture of traditions ; on the one hand, the story of the
capture and destruction of Nineveh by the Medes, sixty-eight
years before the fall of Babylon, may have contributed to· the
historical confusion of the author's mind and influenced him
to insert a Median rule in Babylon· before the Persians;
while, on the other hand, the fame of the great Darius Hyst-
aspis and of his capture of Babylon from the rebels may
have led to the choice of the name ''Darius" for the Median
interloper, and induced the Biblical writer to ascribe in a
vague way , certain events of the life of the former to the
reign of the latter 32 •

29 So Herodotus, iii. 153-160. •° Compare Beers, Richtige Ver-

einigung der Regierungsjahre, p. 22; Bertholdt, Dan. p. iv; v. Lengerke,
Dan. p. 230; and lately, Kamphausen op. cit. p. 29. 31 Calwer Bibel-

lexicon, pp. 137; 138. 32 A similar confusion of persons is seen in the

wellknown Greek legend concerning the fiery death of Sardanapalus
(Asurbanipal). Haupt, in his corrections and additions to the ASKT.
i:i:1 the ZK. ii. p. 282, rem. 4, advanced the theory that this account
56 GENERAL INTRODUCTION,

It seems apparent that th«;l interpolation of Darius the Mede

must be regarded as the most glaring inaccuracy of the
Book of Daniel. In fact, this error of the author alone is
proof positive that he must have lived at a very late period,
when the record of most of the earlier historical events
had become hopelessly confused and perverted.

arose from a confusion in later tradition between Sardanapalus and

his half- brother Samassumukin, who, having rebelled in Babylon
against his brother, perished in the flames when the city was captured
by the victorious Assyrian king. This explanation, however, is not
adopted by Lehmann, op. cit. p. 2, who is inclined to believe that the
legend may have had an historical basis in the fact that Nineveh was
destroyed by fire at the time of its capture by the Medes.
 PART SECOND,

CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

CHAPTER FIRST.
This section which is the introduction to the Book serves
both to explain the presence of Daniel and his friends at the
court of Nebuchadnezzar and also to show how a strict ad-
herence to the Jewish religion must always be rewarded by
Jhvh.
The chapter falls naturally into four paragraphs; viz., The
taking of Jerusalem, 1-2; the royal command concerning the
children, 3-7; Daniel's resolution not to defile himself with
the king's food, 8-16; the skill of the four Hebrew youths in
astrology and divination, 17-21.
I. a) The erroneous statement made here that N ebuchad-
nezzar took Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim has been
discussed above p. 18; see p. 64.
I. b) Jehoiakim (Jhvh raises) reigned 607-597 B. C. His
former name was Eliakim which had been changed to Jehoiakim
by Pharaoh Necho the successor of Amon in Egypt (2 Chron.
xxxvi. 4, and see p. 61.).
2. a) And he carried them. The suffix "them" seems to
include both Jehoiakim and the vessels, in spite 0£ the £act
that the ancient translators (LXX., 0 and V .) made it refer to the
vessels only. The author wishes to state as concisely as
possible that Nebuchadnezzar brought Jehoiakim and, as we
58 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

see from the following verse, a number of other captives,

tog~ther with the sacred vessels, to Babylonia "into the house
of his god''. The writer probably supposed that all the spoils
of victory, treasures and captives alike, were presented in tri-
umph at the heathen altar. He then states more explicitly
that the vessels were put into the treasury, no doubt intend-
ing by this assertion to bring momentarily into prominence a
special theme of the Book which is not developed until C, v., e. _g.
the profanation of the holy u~nsils of Jhvh's Teniple. Hav-
ing thus somewhat awkwardly cleared the way for the narra-
tive having a direct bearing upon the captives, he proceeds
to tell his story of Daniel and his friends.
It does not seem necessary-with Kautzsch-Marti and Behr-
mann 1 to consider that the text of this verse contains glosses,
nor with Ewald, to suppose that some words· have been
omitted by a careless copyist. Still less does the theory of
Hitzig commend itself, that the word "house" in the expression
"house of his gods" means "land", but in "treasure house" re-
turns to the proper signification "house"•
2, b) Shina.r is the Hebrew equivalent of the Bab. mat
Bumeri, VR. 29, 46e, which is the gentilic name for the non-
Semitic provinces of southern Babylonia 2; The Sangara of
the Pharaoh Thotmes III. is very likely the Egyptian form of
the same name 3 • It. is now generally supposed that Baby-
lonian-Assyrian m had a nasal sound, especially between vow-
els and at the ·end of a syllable ', so that the word Sunwr
was probably pronounced Bunger (ng as in "singing'1 which
the Hebrews endeavoured to reproduce by the combination
3'~ and the Egyptiaus by ng. The word Shinar, which occurs
only seven times in the 0. T., must be regarded ip. this passage
of Daniel as an attempt of the author to give an archaic
colour to his narrative.
1 See Kamphausen, p. 14. 2
Lehmann, Samassumukin, p. 89.
• Tiele, Gesch. pp. 139; 145. ' BA. i. p. 202; Del. Assyr. Gr. § 49 a,
rem.
 CHAPTER FIRST. 59

The common expression for Babylonia in exilic Hebrew is

"land of Babylon" or ''land of the Chaldreans"; Jer. li. 29;
Ez. xii. 13.
3. a) Chief of his Eunuchs; undoubtedly the same person
as the "Prince of the Eunuchs" of vv. 7; 11.
There were and still are in the East two varieties of castrati,
the one with all the sexual organs removed, and the other from
whom merely the testes have been an1putated (cf. Dt. xxiii. 2).
3. b) Of the children of Israel. As has already been in-
dicated above p. 25, three distinct classes of youths are men-
tioned here: 1. Those of the Jewish Captivity; 2. Those who
were of royal Babylonian origin; and 3. Those who were child-
ren of Babylonian nobles. The old idea that the writer meant
to indicate that all of the youths chosen were of Israelitish
origin is probably not correct, as it is expressly stated in v. 6
that Daniel and his friends were Judmans.
4. The learning ana. tongue of the Chaldees. The writer
evidently meant by this expression the language .in which the
celebrated works on astrology and divination were composed.
It is now known that the idiom of the Babylonian wise men
was the non-Semitic Sumerian, but it is impossible to decide
w hcther the author of Daniel was aware of this fact.
The word ''Chaldreans" is used in Daniel in two senses.
It is applied sometimes, as in Jer. xxiv. 5; Ez. xxiii. 15, as a
race name to the Babylonians themselves, for ex. iii. 8; v. 30;
ix. 1, but the expression is much oftener used to denote either
a special class of magicians, or, as in this passage (i. 4), as a
general term for all magicians.
It is a common error to consider the name "Chaldrean"
as synonymous with "Babylonian" or even "Old Babylonian".
The Chaldreans were clearly in ancient times a people quite
distinct from the inhabitants of Babylonia. Their exact origin
is extremely uncertain. It may be conjectured with Winckler5,

• UAG. p. 48.
60 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

that, judging from the Semetic character of their proper

names, they were a Semitic people; or with Jensen 6, that
they were "Semitisetl Sumerians", i. e. a non-Semitic race which
by contact with Semitic influences had lost its original character.
It seems probable that they came first from the South at a
very early date along the coast of the Persian Gulf 7 • Hav-
ing settled in the region about Ur (Ur of the Chaldees), they
began a series of encroachments on the Babylonians proper,
which after many centuries ended in the Chaldrean supremacy
under Nabopolassar and his successors.
The peculiar use of the name "Chaldrean" in Daniel, as a
synonym for magicians, is not only entirely foreign to the
usage of the Old Testament, but is peculiar to the Greek and
Roman writers. The term XaMalot is used, for example, by
Herodotus to denote the priestly class of Babylonia, from
whom it is supposed that he got his historical information.
This transfer of the name of the people to a special class is
probably to be explained in the following manner.
The sudden rise of the Babylonian Empire under the Chal-
drean rule of Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, tended to
produce so thorough an amalgamation of the Chaldrnans and
Babylonians who had hitherto been racially distinct, that, in the
course of time, no perceptible differences existed between the
two peoples. The name "Chaldrean", however, lived on in the
restricted sense already mentioned and for the following rea-
sons. The Kaldi had seized and held from most ancient
times the region of old Burner, the centre of the non-Semitic
culture 6 • It seems extremely probable that they were so
strongly influenced •by this superior civilization as to even-
tually adopt it as their own, and, as they were the dominant
race, the priestly caste of that region became a Chaldrnan in-

• Lehmann, op. cit. p. 173. • :For the old oph,iion of Gesenius,

Heeren, Niebuhr, etc. that the Kakli came from Armenia and Kurdistan
and conquered Babylon shortly before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, cf.
Tiele, Gesch. p. 65.
 CHAPTER FIRST. 61
stitution. It is reasonable to conjecture that Southern Baby-
lonia, the home of the old culture, supplied Babylon and other
important cities with priests, who from their descent were
correctly called Chaldaians; a name which in later times,
owing to the amalgamation of the Chaldaians and Babylonians
when the term had lost its national force, became a distinc-
tive appellation of the priestly caste.
6. Daniel. This name appears in the 0. T. of four dif-
ferent persons: 1. Of the Patriarch of Ezekiel (see above,
p. 26 ff.); 2. Of one of the sons of David, 1 Chron. iii. 1 ;
3. Of a certain Levite who was a contemporary of Ezra (see
p. 28 n. 17); 4. Of the Daniel of our Book.
7. Unto whom the prince of the Eunuchs gave names.
It does not seem to have been uncommon for kings to change
the names of their vassals. Compare 2 Kings, xxiv. 17, where
the name of Mattaniah, the uncle of Jeconiah, is changed by
Nebuchadnezzar to Zedekiah, and 2 Kings xxiii. 34, where
Necho, king of Egypt, changed the name of Eliakim, brother
of Jehoahaz, to Jehoiakim. Jchoiakin, son of Jehoiakim.
was also called Jeconiah (1 Chron. iii. 16) and Coniah (Jer.
xxii. 24).
In Assyrian we may compare the case of Tiglath-pileser
I~l. (745:__727 B. C.), who reigned in Nineveh as Tiglath-
pileser (Tukultipalesarra), and in Babylon under the name
Pulu; i. e. the biblical Pnl. Sbalmaneser · the fourth (727-
722 B. C.) was called in Babylon Dlula'a (Ilnlaios), but in
Assyrian Shalmaneser (Sulmiinu-a,forid).
8. Daniel's refusal to eat the king's food is a distinctly
Maccabrean touch. We have only to refer to 1 Mace. i.
62-3 to see how such a defilement was regarded by the
pious Jews of that period. The persecuting Syrian king was
particularly importunate against the ritualistic reqnirenients
of the ,Jewish Law and especially against the regulation for-
bidding the Jews to ·touch strange food (see l. c. i. 60). The
author of Daniel, therefore, in emphasizing this act of piety
62 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

on the part of his hero, is plainly touching on a point of

vital importance to his readers.
The Prophet's refusal to eat the heathen dainties was not
only a pious deed in itself, but as an act of voluntary fasting
was also a recognized means of preparation for the divine
revelation, as in Ex. xxxiv. 28; Dt. ix. 9; 18.
9, Now God had brought Daniel into favour etc. This
verse is necessary to explain why the Chief Eunuch was not
enraged at Danicl's objection, and also to bring out more
forcibly the gentle traits of .the hero's character.
17, a) In all learning and wisdom. That is; in all the
magical and astrological literature. The word "book'' trans-
lated in the A. V. by "learning" simply means "that which
is written down" and could therefore be appropriately used
of the cylinders and tablets of the Babylonians. It is not
likely, however, that the author of Daniel knew the exact
character of the cuneiform documents.
17, b) In all sorts of visions and dreams. This phrase
was undoubtedly introduced purposely as a connecting link
with C. ii.
20. a) Magicians. This word appears to mean "penmen"
or "scribes". The correct translation is probably "hierogram-
matists", e. g. "those who write sacred things". It is used
only in the plural in the 0. T. In Gn. xli. 8; 24, ·etc., it is
the term applied to the Egyptian priestly scribes.
In Assyria and Babylonia, the scribes (tupsarre) were a
special class of the priesthood, from whom all the literature
of the times proceeded.
20. b) Astrologers. This is a Babylonian loanword found
only in Daniel. The exact meaning of the stem from which it
is derived is not clear, but it may have originally conveyed
the idea of whispering or muttering, in allusion to the pe-
culiar tome in which the ineantations were uttered. The
correct translation is probably "conjurers" and not "astro-
logers" as in the A. V.
 CHAPTER FIRST. 63
It is probable that the author of Daniel had no very
clear idea regarding the exact meaning of the. terms which
he uses to denote the various kinds of magicians at Baby-
lon. He very likely knew through the vague traditions which
were current in his time that there had been in Baby-
lon different branches of the magical arts, each of which was
represented by a special body of men, but it is difficult to
say with certainty that the writer actually meant to apply
each term to a distinct class.
The Chaldrean priestly caste was in all probability an here-
ditary order, as Diodorus Siculus stated (ii. 29). According
to the same authority, the priests were divided into three
classes ; first, ·those who celebrated sacrifices and performed
purification; secondly, those who recited incantations to keep
off evil spirits, and finally; those who explained portents and
dreams. This division is not contradicted by the inscriptions,
although it cannot be known just what Assyrian names corre-
spond to each of these classes 8 •
21. Unto the first year of Cyrus. There seems to be a
contradiction here with x. 1, where it is stated that Daniel
a
saw vision in the third year of Cyrus. The explanation
that the author merely meant to imply that Daniel lived to
see the return of the exiles in the first year of Cyrus is
unsatisfactory, because, as Bevan very properly points out
(Dan. p. 63), the Return is only alluded to very indirectly in
the Book in ix. 25. On the other hand it is certainly strange
that the writer should have permitted such an apparent
contradiction to stand. On this account, it seems quite
possible that this verse is a later gloss 9, inserted by some
one who, without a careful examination of the Book, wished
to call the reader's attention to the fact that Daniel actually
lived through the time of the persecuting Nebuchadnezzar
until the advent of the redeeming Cyrus.
• For this whole subject, cf. Lenormant, La Divination entre les
Chaldeens. 9 So Behrmann.
64 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

CHAPTER SECOND.
Having · explained the presence of Daniel an<I his friends
at the Babylonian court, the author proceeds at once in
C. ii to narrate a special episode in the life of his hero,
illustrative of the mysterious powers of interpretation with
which the Seer was gifted and which had been alluded to in
a preliminary way in C. i. 17 1.
Mention has already been made of the striking similarity
between this narrative and the story of Joseph in Gn. xl.-xli.,
a resemblance which has led many critics to believe that the
writer of Daniel simply imitated the Pentateuchal account,
adapting it to his own special purpose 2• · The theme of
Dan. ii is practically identical with that of C. ,rii which is
really an amplification of the vision regarding the four em-
pires, only couched in somewhat more apocalyptic· language
than C. ii 3 •
There are seven paragraphs in C. ii which should be ob-
served; viz., The king's dream, 1-4; the king's threat to the
Chaldmans, 5-13; the summons to Daniel, 14--18; the rev-
elation of the vision to Daniel, 19-23; the exposition of the
dream, 24-35; the interpretation of the dream, 36-45; and
finally, as a climax, Nebuchadnezzar's acknowledgment of the
power of Daniel's God, 46-49.
1. And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchad-
nezzar, etc. This statement regarding the date of Daniel's
interpretation which ·is in direct contradiction with i. 5 ; 18
has excited much controversy among expositors -t. All at-
tempts on the part of the defenders of the authenticity of
the Book to reconcile this assertion with C. i are highly
unsatisfactory. Thus, the second year cannot possibly mean
the second year after the destruction of the Temple at· Jeru-

1 S@e p. 62. 2
See p. 29 3 See p. 9; · 1 See p. 18.
 CHAl>TER SECOND. 6tJ
salem 5, because the reign-years of a Babylonian king could
never hav~ been dated from such an event, even by an in-
accurate foreign tradition. It is equally unsafe to assume
that Nebuchadnezzar began his reign as a co-regent with his
father N a.bopolassar 6 and that this is the second year after
N abopolassar's death, because it is nowhere stated in the
extant inscriptions of Nabopolassar that Nebuchadnezzar was
co-regent. The only allusion to the great king in these docu-
ments is the statement that the king N abopolassar caused
his sons Nebuchadnezzar the elder, and the younger brother
Nabusulisir to take part in a religious ceremony at the
founding of a temple 7 •
This statement in Dan. ii. 1 is so evidently a contradiction
to i. 5; 18 that we have no right to suppose in this case,
any more than in i. 21 8, that the writer of the Book could,
have allowed such an error to stand. We are thus practi-
cally driven to accept the theory of Ewald who alters the
text by the addition of a single word 9 so as to translate
"in the twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar''.
4-. a) In Syriac. This should be translated "in Aramaic",
which was the colloquial language of the Jews at the time
of Antiochus Epiphanes. It is highly probable that this word
is a later addition to the passage, introduced by some stud-
ent of the text, in order to mark the beginning of the Aram-
aic sections. Its ultimate incorporation as an integral part
of the text has led some commentators to the erroneous con-
clusion mentioned above 10, that the author of Daniel be-
lieved Aramaic to have been the language of Babylonia. The
verse probably read originally as follows: "Then spake the
Chaldieans to the king, and said:". This last expression "and
said" was afterwards superseded by the gloss translated in
the A. V. "in Syriac" 11 •
5
So Rashi. • So Hengstenberg and Ziickler. 1
Nabop. C. ii
ll. 68 ff. • See p. 63. 9 l"l'"l'i!l:I', 10 See p. 11.
" Haupt in
Kamphausen, p, 16.
Prince, Daniel. 5
 66 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

4-. b) 0 King Live For Ever, was a common form 0£

address to royalty in the East; cf. iii. 9; v. 10; vi. 7; 22;
· Neh. ii. 3; 1 K. i. 31 12• This greeting was com~on also in
Babylonian times cf. BA. i. p. 239: - "May Nebo and Mero-
dach give long days and everlasting years unto the king of
the lands, my lord''.
8. a) That ye would gain the time, because ye see the
thing has gone from me. It is probable that this whole
passage should be translated as follows: - "And the king
spake and said: I know of a certainty that ye would gain
time, although ye see that the thing is fixed (determined) by
me; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak
before me until the time be changed" (v. 9). This last phrase
has no logical connection in v. 9 and should therefore be
transferred to v. 8, as just shown.
8. b) "To gain time" means at the king's expense. We find a
similar idea in the Latin idiom tempus emere 13, but the ex-
pression in the N. T. u "redeeming the time", cited in this
connection by Havernick and Hitzig, conveys quite a differ-
ent idea, e. g. that of using the time at its foll value.
8. c) The thing is gone from me, This translation is in-
correct in view of the fact that the word regarded as mean-
ing "gone (from me)" is probably a Persian loanword, signi-
fying "certain". Translate as indicated above: "The thing is
fixed (or, "determined") by me" 15•
9. There is but one decree for you, e. g. "one sentence
which ye shall suffer''. The word is the same as that used
in v. 13; "and the decree (the sentence) went forth that the
wise men should be slain''.
The whole verse should read: - "But if ye will not make
known unto me the dream there is one sentence for you"
(e. g. the one already set forth in v. 5); "therefore, tell me

12 BA. i. p. 242; Kaulen, Assyr. u. Bab. p. 262. 13 Cicero Verrus, i. 3.

a Eph. v. 16; Col. iv. 5. 10 See philological note.

 CHAPTER SECOND. 67
the dream and I shall know that ye can set forth its inter-
pretation"; thus omitting the middle section which was trans-
ferred to v. 8.
10. King, Lord or Ruler. This should be translated
"great and mighty king". It is undoubtedly a reminiscence
of the old Assyro-Babylonian title so common in the in-
scriptions "Great king, mighty king, king of Assyria'', (or of
Babylon) 16•
11. Except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.
This simply means that the astrologers and magicians con-
fessed the limitations of their art. There were some things
which even they could not accomplish.
12. Very furious. This is most probably an imitation of
the story of Joseph, as it is the same stem used in Gn.
xl. 2; xli. 10, to denote the wrath of Pharaoh.
13. And the decree went forth that the wise men should
be slain. Such a sentence, implying the destruction of all
the wise men, in_dicates that the author regarded them as a
special class or order, of which he goes on to state that
Daniel and his friends were members.
· 14. a) With counsel and wisdom; more correctly "with
common sense and good judgment". It simply means that
Daniel gave a judicious and diplomatic reply.
14. b) Arioch occurs Gn. xiv. 1 as the name of the king
of Ellasar, the ancient Babylonian Larsa. It is highly likely
that the author of Daniel appropriated the name from this
passage.
15. Why is the decree so hasty from the king? This
is an incorrect translation. The LXX. render rightly "why is
the decree so cruel on the part of the king?" 17 This is the
proper meaning of the Aramaic word of the original, which
never expresses the idea of haste.

18 Cf. 2 Kings xviii. 28. 11 So also V. El less correctly 'shameless,

reckless'.
5*
68 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

18. The God of Heaven, This expression, which occurs

in the later J document (J2 ea. 850-700 B. C.), e. g. in Gn.
xxiv. 7, is a favourite one with the Hebrew writers of the
exilic period; cf. Dan. ii. 44; Ezra i. 2; Jon. i. 9; and Revel.
xi. 13. It may be a reminiscence of the common Babylonian
expression "the great gods of the heavens and the earth".
In iv. 26, the word "heavens" alone is used as a synonym
for Jhvh; see note on this passage.
24. He went and said thus unto him. Neither the LXX.
nor V. translate this second "he went''. As the word does
not seem necessary to the context, it is probably to be can-
celed as· a gloss 18•
27. Soothsayers, also iv. 7 (4). This word is a derivative
from a stem meaning "to cut, to decide". The exact trans-
lation seems to be "horoscopists", e. g. drawers of horo-
scopes 19 or celestial charts, showing the position of the con-
stellations at the hour of one's birth.
28. The visions of thy head. "Of thy head", because
the head is the seat of vision; cf. iv. 2; 7; 10; vii. 1 ; 15.
Thoughts on the other hand .are said to come from the heart;
cf. ii. 30.
29. ~ As for thee, 0 king, thy thoughts came into thy
mind upon thy bed. Better, "thy thoughts came up to
thee". The king is represented as lying awake, probably in
meditation regarding the future. The explanatory vision was
sent to him by God. The author evidently intends to mark
the contrast between the waking thoughts and the subsequent
dream.
30. a) But for their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation, should be translated ''but in order that the
inte1pretation should be made known".
30. b) The thoughts of thy heart, e. g. the speculations
regarding the future alluded to in v. 29.

18
Against the ide_a of Behrmann, p. 12. 18 AJP. xiii. p. 280.
 CHAPTER sgCOND. 69
32, This image's head was of fine gold. It is interesting
to observe that in this chapter and in v. 4 the author placef-i
gold before silver, as if it were more valuable, but in v. 23
he mentions silver first. It is impossible to make any de-
duction from this circumstance regarding the relative value
of the metals in the time of the author. In Assyrian, gold
is sometimes mentioned before silver and sometimes after it,
to all appearances in a purely arbitrary manner. In v. 23
V. mentions silver first, 0 gold, and the LXX. avoid classi-
fying the metals 20 •
34:-35. The stone cut out without hands, e. g. without
any human intervention 2 1, is undoubtedly the symbol of the
coming Messianic rule which is to destroy all the preceding
kingdoms of the wicked. It is made to fall first upon the
feet of the visionary image, leaving the rest intact, in order
to show that the might of the Messianic king is to develope
by degrees, and that the destruction of the heathen is con-
sequently to be a gradual one. The heathen empires typi-
fied by the different parts of the image represent four suc-
cessive phases in the progressive developernent of the un-
righteous which are to be checked and crushed into nothing-
ness by the constantly increasing Messianic power.
35. a) The iron, the clay. In 0 more properly the clay
comes first. In vv. 33-34, the iron must, of course, precede
the clay in the descending scale of valuation, but in vv. 35-
36, where the reverse order is followed, and the least impor-
tant material should be destroyed first, the clay should un-
doubtedly precede all the others. It is difficult to decide
whether 0 is translating freely according to the sense, or
really following a more accurate text. If the text as it now
stands is correct, the error may simply have been one of
carelessness on the part of the author of Daniel 22•

2
° Kamphausen, p. 19, 21 Cf. Dan. viii. 25; Job xxxiv. 20; Lam.

iv. 6. •~ See on this passage, Kamphaus·en, p. 19.

70 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

35. b) And the stone that smote the image became a

great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the
symbol of the Messianic kingdom which is to extend over
the whole earth and of which Monnt Zion is the physical
prototype 2 3 •
36. We will tell. It should be noticed that Daniel is made
to include his friends here, in order that he may save them,
as well as himself, from the king's wrath. They are necessary
to the author of the Book for the narrative in C. iii.
37-38. It is highly probable that the anthor borrowed the
ideas herein expressed from Jer. xxvii. 5-6; xxviii. 14. A de-
.seription of the power of N ebnchadnezzar has been given
above, p. 31.
37. Thou, o king, (art a) king of kings. This is not the
customary Babylonian form of address. Nebuchadnezzar is
called, for example, in the. great East India House Inscrip-
tion 24 dating from his reign, simply "Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, the exalted prince, the beloved of Marduk 2 5", etc.
The usual Assyrian form was much more ornate: "The great
king, the mighty king, the king of hosts, the king of Assyria".
This collection of titles is assumed by Antiochus Soter (280-260
B. C.) with the alteration and addition: "king of Babylon,
king of the lands" 26• The expression "king of kings", found
in Daniel is a characteristic Persian title; cf. "I am Darius
the great king, the king of kings", etc. 27
38. The fowls of the heaven. LXX.' and 0 add here "and
the fish of the sea", as if it were necessary to c.numerate all
kinds of life. It is probable that this was a purely arbitrary
gloss based on a misunderstanding of the passage.
39. a) And after thee shall arise another kingdom, in-
ferior to thee. This is plainly the Median empire 28 which

23
Cf. lJi xlviii. 1; IJ• lxxxvii; Mi. iv. 1; Ezek. xvii. 22-4. 2 • EIH.

i. 1 ff. 25
The Biblical Merodach, the tutelary deity of Babylon.
• KB. iii. pt. 2, p. 136. Bezold, Acham. Inschr. pp. 32-3.
2 27

20
See p. 50- 1 and below on v. 28.
 CHAPTER SECOND. 71

is represented by the mythical Median Darius in whose reign

the episode of the lions' den was supposed to have taken
place (C. vi.). The author probably knew nothing of the Medes
save their name and therefore passed this empire over, both
here and in C. vii., with a mere mention.
39. b) And another third kingdom of brass which shall
bear rule over all the earth. This is undoubtedly the
Persian empire of Cyrus, of which the writer naturally knew
more than he did of the Medes. His object in the present
chapter is to lay stress on the first and fourth kingdoms;
first, on the empire under which he supposed Daniel to have
flourished and secondly, on the rule of the Greco -Syrian
sovereigns under which he himself lived.
4-0-4:4:.
•
And the fourth kingdom shall I
be as strong as
iron, forasmuchas iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth
(lit. crusheth) all things. There is no reason for regarding
the words "and as iron that breaketh"; viz. "all these" (40) as
a gloss 29 • The expression "all these" is indefinite, but seems
to refer to the three metals, gold, silver and brass just men-
tioned as the component parts of the image.
This fourth kingdom is the power founded by Alexander
which is worse than any that preceded and is to be strong
and hard· to break; yet its strength is not irresistible, for it .
shall be divided against itself (41): "And it shall be partly
strong and partly broken"; (42) strong as regards the iron,
the Seleucides, and broken as regards the clay, the Ptolemies,
whose power began to wane about 221-204 B. C. under Philo-
pator. These monarchs, the Ptolemies and the Seleucides,
"shall mingle themselves with the seeds of men" 30, e. g. they
shall make marriages among themselves (43), but they shall not
prevail by these alliances. The temporal Messianic kingdom,
for which all the pious Jews. of the Maccabrean period so
devoutly hoped, shall supersede this Gentile period "in the

29 See Kamphausen, p. 20. 3 ° Cf, Jer. xxxi. 27.

72 CHITICAL COMMENTARY.

days of those kings" (44), e. g. when the empire is divided,

and shall last for ever, absorbing all other nations.
4:5. For as much as thou sawest, etc. Daniel simply re-
iterates here his statemC'nt of the dream, laying special stress
on the fact that the stone was cut out of the monntain with-
out human intervention, in order to impress more vividly upon
the monarch that the whole course of future events is to be
regulated by divine power. There is to be no human force
in the overthrow of the heathen. This sentence goes with
what precedes in v. 44. V crsc 45 should consist solely of
the concluding words: "The great God hath made known to
the king what shall come to pass here-after; and the dream
is certain and the interpretation thereof sure".
4:6. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face
and worshipped Daniel. This act of the king's is explained
in the next verse. The adoration was not offered to Daniel
personally, but through 'him to the God Whom he represented
and Whose power had just been manifest.cd so marvellously.
The author's object is clearly to depict the humiliation of the
heathen before triumphant Israel. Several expositors have
called attention to the resemblance between this account and
the fable regarding .Alexander narrated by Josephus 31 who
states that when that monarch entered Jerusalem, he prostrated
himself before the Jewish High-Priest, explaining to his com-
panion Parmcnion that this homage was intended for the
divine power represented by the Priest.
4:8-4:9. Then the king made Daniel a great man . . . .
and made him ruler over the whole province of Baby-
lonia and chief of the governours over all the wise men
of Babylon. This verse, which serves as a connecting link
with iv. and v., is plainly an imitation of Gn. xli. 40-43, the
account of the promotion of Joseph in Egypt to be second
to the King. Daniel does not refuse the honour offered him,

" Ant. xi. 8: ,5.

 CHAPTER THIRD. 73
but requests that his friends be made partakers of it. The
prophet remains near the royal person "in the king's gate" 32 ,
e. g. at the court. It is of course not historically probable
that a Jewish prophet could have occupied such a position;
first, because it is difficult to see how a strict Jew could
conscientiously hold this post, and secondly, because the magi-
cians, probably being an hereditary order, would have resented
an outsider being set over them.
The allusion to Daniel's three companions undoubtedly
points forward to the narrative of C. iii.

CHAPTER THIRD.
This section of the Book is devoted exclusively to the
narratiYe of the episode of the Fiery Furnace, in which Daniel's
three companions are made to play the chief part. The au-
thor's aim in this chapter was undoubtedly to demonstrate
first, that death should be preferred by the pious Israelite
to any form of idolatry, a distinctly Maccabrean touch, and
secondly, that the mercies of Jhvh are not only shown in a
marvellous way through the miraculous gifts of Daniel him-
self, but also by means of his three friends who, like their
leader and hero, remained faithful to the ordinances of the
Jewish religion. The special aim of this chapter, therefore,
which is quite in keeping with the general tone of the Book,
is practically identical with that of C. vi., where Daniel him-
self appears as the willing martyr who is rescued by the
direct interposition of the Divine Power.
It is highly striking, however, that the companions of Daniel
are not mentioned again after C. iii. In fact, a careful ex-
amination of the work seems to indicate that they were only
mentioned in i. and ii., in order to prepare the reader for this

32
Esther ii. fa; iii. 2.
74 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

one great episode. Bevan remarks, in connection with the

narrative of C. iii.:-"..... if Daniel had intervened to save
his friends, there would have been no opportunity for the
display of the divine power, preserving them unhurt amidst
the flames of the furnace" 1 • This does not necessarily follow,
for, if the author had seen fit to connect Daniel with this
episode, neither the moral nor the general form of the account
would have suffered in the least, as he could easily have
made Jhvh perform a miracle through Daniel, in order to
terrify the king and thus save his friends. In fact, the pro-
minence of the prophet throughout the entire work - he is
the central figure of every narrative save this - naturally leads
the reader to expect some denouement of this character. That
Daniel is quite ignored, however, would seem to indicate that
C. iii. is a distinct interruption of the series of narratives about
the prophet's influence on Nebuchadnezzar and that it is prob-
ably to be regarded, therefore, as an intentional interpolation
introduced by the author himself, in order to give a parallel
account of the same king's experiences with three other pious
Israelites who are represented as the companions of Daniel
in his captivity. In other words, Daniel was not the only
person through whom Jhvh could influence Nebuchadnezzar.
There is probably no historical basis · for the account as a
whole, but it is quite possible that the narrative embodies
some special traditional elements, distinct from those relating
to Daniel, which the author may have incorporated into his
work as a valuable addition to and variation of his more ex-
tended account of the Babylonian Seer.
It is, of course, extremely difficult to determine just how
much of the subject matter of C. iii. depends on tradition and
how much was invented by the author himsel£ It is possible,
for example, that he got his idea of Nebuchadnezzar's haughty
speech in v. 15 from the words attributed to t~e represent-

1 Dan. p. 79.
 CHAPTER THIRD. 75
ative of Sennacherib in Is. xxxvii. 10 fP, but on the other hand,
the words of Nebuchadnezzar in iv. 30 relating to the glory
of Babylon, already commented on above (p. 31), show without
much doubt that there really was a trustworthy tradition,
on which the writer of Daniel based his idea of the power
of the greatest of Babylonian monarchs. It is permissible to
suppose, therefore, that if the Biblical author knew something J-

of Nebuchadnezzar's grandeur, he would naturally put some

such words into the king's mouth as we find in v. 15 without
any direct influence from the naITative of Sennache1ib's attack
on Jerusalem. Furthermore, it hardly seems necessary to as-
sume that the author of Daniel borrowed his idea regarding
the punishment of burning alive among the Babylonians ex-
clusively -from Jer. xxix. 22, nor that the purely metaphorical
passage Is. xliii. 2 contributed towards the formation of this
whole account. While each of these passages may have had,
and probably did have, an influence on the production of
Dan. iii., it is hardly safe to imply that they were the only
elements at the author's disposal. It is more likely that he
chose this method of punishment, because it was one of the
worst forms of torture inflicted on the pious Israelites during
the Greco-Syrian persecution, and the moral of the story was
thereby greatly enhanced 3•
The third chapter should be divided into five paragraphs
as follows: - The proclamation regarding the image, 1-7;
the accusation of Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego by the
jealous Babylonian wizards, 8-12; the refusal of the three
Jews to ·worship te image, 13-18; the miracle, 19-25; the
conversion of Nebuchadnezzar, 26-30.
1. a) Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold.
Both 0 and LXX. give the date of the erection of the image;
viz., "in the eighteenth year''. This is lacking, however, in all
the other versions.

2 Behrmann, Dan. p. 21. 3 See below on v. 6.

76 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

It was a common custom among the Assyrians and Baby-

lonians to erect images both for religious and political pur-
poses, in the construction of which gold was frequently used.
Of this we find plenty of evidence in the inscriptions. Thus
Asurnaf;irpal (885-860 B. C.) ' says: "l erected an image of
Ninib which was not there before ..•. · of choice mountain
stone and of pure gold". Asurbanipal (668-625 B. C.) states
that he carried away thirty two images of Elamitic kings,
some of which were of gold 5• Shalmaneser (860-825, B. C.)
also records that he caused his own statue to be erected as
an emblem of his royal sway 6•
It is not necessary to regard this passage in Daniel as a
direct allusion to the erection by Antiochus Epiphanes of a
great image of Apollo at Antiochia 7• The custom of con-
structing immense idols was too common among heathen mon-
archs to admit of the supposition that the author had any
special case in mind.
1. b) Whose height was three score cubits and the breadth
thereof six cubits. The use here of the sexagesimal system of
enumeration is very probably a sign of a tradition dating from
the time of the Babylonian captivity 8, as it cannot be shown
that the Hebrews reckoned by sixties before this event in
their history; c£ Gn. xxv. 26; P. Dt. iii. 4, D, etc.
1. c) In the plain of Dura. The LXX. do not regard this as
a proper name, but translate it "circumference". It was prob-
ably intended, however, for a place-name- and may be genuine
Babylonian. Fried. Delitzsch suggests that this plain of Dura
in the province of Babylon may have been some well known
locality close to the city 9 • He points out that, according to
IV. R. 39, 9-11 b, there were three places called Duru in Baby~
lonia 10• ·-'-· ,,,

2. a) The princes, the governours, etc. IHs ·extremely -dif-

ficult to distinguish between the classes of .:oilicials mentioned
• Asurn. ii. 133. • Asurb. vi. 48 ff. • Ob. 31. 7
Nestle, Marg. p. 35.
• Also Behrmann, Dan. p. 18. • Paradies, p. 216. '.~'" klso·11L R. 9, 43.
 CHAPTER THIRD. 77
here, and indeed it is hardly necessary to do so, as these ex-
pressions seem to be grouped together more to give a local
colouring to the account than for the sake of exactness. Behr-
mann 11 cites very appropriately a similar grouping of Persian
titles in ..2Eschylus, Pers. v. 11 ff., some of which were actually
invented by the Greek author. A discussion of each name
is given in the Philological Commentary.
2. b) And all the rulers of the provinces. This is mere-
ly a summing up and is not intended to imply that there
were other classes of officials not mentioned in the list.
4. Peoples, Nations and Languages. The LXX. have here
a fourfold group: "Nations and countries, peoples and lang-
uages". M. which is followed by 0 and V. is probably correct.
The same expression is also found iv. I; vi. 25.
5. a) That at what time ye hear the sound of the
cornel, flute. harp, sackbut psaltery, dulcimer, etc. More
correctly: "The horn, syrinx, lyre, triangular harp,. upright
harp, bag-pipe(?)". The precise meaning of the two last words
is doubtful here. That they, together with the word for "harp",
are Greek loanwords, however, is perfectly clear, but the exact
character of the instruments which the terms denoted in Aram-
aic is not certain. The Greek xd}af!U was undoubtedly a
lyre- like instrument and there is every reason to believe that ·
tbe Aramaic author of Daniel bad some such instrument in
mind in this passage. Whether it was iilentical in form with
the Greek lyre or approached more closely the old Hebrew
kinnor cannot .of. course be known. The Greek "psaltery"
was undoubtedly the parent of the later dulcimer, e. g. an in-
struµi.ent on which the strings lay parallel to each other, strung
horizontally .over a.flat dish-shaped sound-body. On the other
hand, the Hebrew nebel which is commonly translated by
"psaltery" was _in all probability not a dulcimer, but a pure

.
harp,- strung obliquely from a slanting sound-frame: we are

11 Dan. p. 19.
78 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

led to believe this by the descriptions of the Chur~h Fathers.

Whether, therefore, the author of Daniel had in mind the real
Greek psaltery or whether he was merely using the Greek
word to denote the Hebrew nebel is an open question. As to
the term "symphony" Behrmann (p. ix.) wrongly denies that
the Greek word avµcpwi•la was ever used for a musical in-
strument, and asserts that it always meant "concert, harmony".
There can be no doubt that this was the usual meaning of
the word 1 2, but iu later Greek, avµcpwYla may have been
used to denote a form of bag-pipe 13 which possibly resembled
the modern Spanish zampona, the name of which is clearly a
derivative from avµcpwYla (Ital. sampogna). It was probably
a goat-skin bag with two reeds, the one used as a mouth-
piece to fill the bag, and the other employed as a chanter-
flute with finger-holes. It is not likely that the avµcpw'l'ta
was a sistrum 14• In Dan. iii. 5, 0 omits the symphony alto-
gether.
It is highly significant in this connection that the psaltery
was a favourite fostrument of Antiochus Epiphanes 15• Its
mention in Daniel may indeed be due to this fact.
It can hardly be supposed that these three essentially Greek
names of musical instruments were current at the court of
Nebuchadnezzar. While there was, in all likelihood, some inter-
course, even at that time, between the Asiatics and the Ion-
ians in Asia Minor;- it does not seem probable that the in-
fluence was then strong enough to cause the adoption by the
Babylonians of Greek musical instruments and even of their
Greek names. In Assyrian literature the first mention of the
Ionians occurs in the inscriptions of Sargon (722-705 B. C.)

·The only passage where it seems to be used for a musical

12

instrument is Polyb. 26, 105; cf. also Isid. Etym. 3, 22, Ducange.
13 See philological note. 14 V. translates the doubtful c.,w.,!,lll

in 1 Sam. xviii. 6 by in sistris. As the word is used here in .connection

with t:l.,Eln "hand-drums", this is probably a correc·t rendering. in Cf.

Athemeus, x. 52.
 CHAP'I'ER THIRD. 79
who relates that he conquered the Yamna who dwelt "in the
midst of the sea". Abydenus in Eusebius 16 tells of Sargon's
succes·sor Sennacherib that he conquered the fleet of the Greeks
on the Cilician coast: "on the sea coast of Cilicia he over-
threw and conquered the fighting fleet of Greek vessels in a
naval battle". Sennacherib himself relates that he manned his
ships "with Tyrian, Sidonian and Ionian sailors". (Senn. Smith,
1. 91.). Neither in the later Assyrian nor in the Babylopian
inscriptions does any further allusion to the Greeks occur. In
fact, not until the time of Darius Hystaspis, two hundred years
later do we hear anything more of them. This king speaks
frequently of a umat Yamanu", evidently referring, not to
Greece proper, but to the Greek territory in Asia Minor 1 7•
In view of the absolute silence of the Babylonian inscriptions,
it may be inferred that the Greek influence, later so powerful,
had not yet begun to make itself perceptible in the East.
5. b) And all kinds of music is a general expression to denote
the other kinds of music not included in the list of instru-
ments.
6. a) In the same hour should be rendered "at once, forth-
with".
6. b) A burning fiery furnace. This is probably a pit in the
ground, lined with stones or bricks, covered by a low mound
with a vent on top, into which the men were thrown, with a
grated gate on one side, through which the king could see
the interior of the furnace. Burning alive, which has been in
nse as a punishment until quite a recent date in Persia, was
one of the favourite methods of torture practised on the Jews
during the Seleucidan period 18• That this punishment was in
use among the Babylonians also is seen, for example, from
the allusion in Jer. xxix. 22 to the roasting of Zedekiah and
Ahab by the king of Babylon.
16 Chron. ed. Schoene, i. 1, 35. 17 Cf. Delitzsch, Paradies,
pp. 248ff.; Schrader KAT. 2 pp. 81-2. 18
See above, p. 75 and cf.
2 Mace. vii. 5.
 80 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

15. Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear ..... ye

fall down and worship the image which I have made, (well).
An elliptical construction like those in Ex. xxxii. 32; Luke
xiii. 9. This haughty utterance of Nebuchadnezzar's is quite
in keeping with the author's idea of that monarch's power.
16. S. M. and A. answered and said to the king: 0 Ne-
buchadnezzar. Better: "to the king Nebuchadnezzar, 0 king";
altering the punctuation and inserting the word "king" a second
time, as is done by the LXX 19•
17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will
deliver us from thy hand, 0 king. This translation, which
is highly unsatisfactory and obscure, is not in accordance with
the Masoretic punctuation which makes the verse mean: "If
our God ... be able to deliver us, He will deliver ·us from
thy hand, 0 king'', which is decidedly an improvement. It is
still better, however, to translate: "If our God whom we serve
exists, he is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,
and from thy hand, 0 king, He will deliver us" 20• This is
a defiant expression of the Hebrews' perfect faith in the power
of their God which they make dependent on what is to them
a certainty, e. g. Bis very existence.
18. If not of course implies no doubt in their minds,
but simply means "in any case", e. g. even if He does not
deliver us, but sees fit to allow us to perish. So V. quodsi
noluer·it "even if' Be should be unwilling". The similarity of
the position of' the three Jews to the situation of the pious
Israelites under Antiochus Epiphanes is perfectly apparent.
19. One seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
More accurately "than it was needful to heat it''. The ob-
ject of this touch was of course to make the impending death
..of the martyrs seem even more terrible to the reader.

19 20
See Kamphausen, p. 22. Translation suggested by Mr.
George Osborn in his lectures on the narrative sections of Daniel.
 CHAPTER THIRD. 81
21. In their coats, their hosen and their hats. This
whole passage is very obscure and the A. V. is clearly in-
correct. The following rendering, while making no pretence
at absolute accuracy, is certainly better: "their trousers, their
tunics and their cloaks". It is quite impossible to arrive at
any satisfactory conclusion concerning the meaning of these
words. Bevan notes the interesting circumstance that George
:Fox, the Quaker, deduced from this verse his idea that men
should remain covered in the presence of royalty 21•
22. Took up; e. g. to the opening on top of the mound;
see above on v. 6.
23. After v. 23, sixty seven verses are inserted in the LXX.
embodying a prayer of the three Jews, 1-21; a narrative para-
graph, 22-26; and the song of praise of Daniel's companions
after their miraculous rescue, 27-67. 0 and P. have adopted
these additions outright, while Jerome incorporated them, but
recognized them as interpolations 22 •
25. Like the Son of God. Literally "like a son of
the gods". The plural is never used in Aramaic for Jhvh,
as it is in Hebrew. This is a highly characteristic touch on
the pai:t of the author. As in iv. 5, he makes the heathen
king use an appropriate heathen expression. There is certainly
no allusion here to any special Person. "Son of the gods"
simply means ((an angel" or "divine being".
26. The most high God; c£ Gn. xiv. 18; Mi. vi. 6. This
expression is frequently put into the mouths of heathens who
are referring to ,Jhvh; cf: 2 Mace. iii. 3; Mark v. 7; Luke vii. 28.
27. a) Neither were their coats changed. Probably "their
trousers" (see above on v. 21). Especial stress is laid on the
condition of this garment, because it was in all probability
foll and baggy like the modern Turkish and Persian trousers
and therefore more liable to be damaged by fire than any
other article of their apparel.

21 Dan. p. 84. 22
See above p. ·2.
Prince, Daniel. 6
82 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

27. b) ((Changed" means simply ((damaged" 23 •

28-30. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said. · This
utterance of the king's recognition of Jhvh's power and the
account of the honours heaped upon the three Jews contain the
moral of the chapter. Verse 29 is parallel whith vi. 25-8.

CHAPTER FOURTH.
In the A. V: and in all modern yersions the division be-
tween iii. and iv. is made correct_ly, but in M. the first three
verses of iv. are incorporated as vv. 3.1-33 of iii.
This chapter, like the preceding ones, is an independent
section, hut was undoubtedly written in direct harmony with
the ideas of all the narratives. Here, however, the moral is
presented in a slightly different form. The author evidently
intended to show his readers that Israel's God had the power
to humiliate even the mightiest heathen monarch who was
engaged in persecuting the worshippers of Jhvh. In this way,
the writer probably hoped to console his co-religionists who
were groaning under the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes,
under which they must have felt themselves to be perfectly
helpless and forsaken by their God. The external form of
the chapter, that of an epistle by Nebuchadnezzar himself,
was evidently adopted in order to give more vividness and
force to the moral. In internal form, the section strongly
resembles C. ii., as the subject is the declaration by the king ·
of a disquieting and mysterious dream and its interpretation
by Daniel after the Chaldreans had failed. In this chapter,
however, the author goes a step further, as he makes the
great king himself narrate the fulfillment and result of the
dream.
The chapter should be divided into six paragraphs, as fol-
lows: - The prologue, 1-3 (iii. 31-33); the king's unintelli-
23
Not necessarily "changed their colour" (Bevan, Dan. p. 86).
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 83
gible dream, 4-9 (1-6); the statement of the dream, 10-18
(7-15); Daniel's interpretation, 19-27 (16-24); fulfillment of
the prophecy, 28-33 (25-30); Nebuchadnezzar's recovery and
his recognition of the true God, 34-37 (31-34).
l (iii. 31). Peace be multiplied unto you; cf. vi. 25, but in
Ezra v. 7 "unto the king, all peace". In Assyr., the expres-
sion "to ask for peace" is commonly used of greeting a king,
thus: "he did not ask for the peace of my majesty'', e. g. he
did not greet me becomingly 1 • The phrase "peace be with
you" used as a greeting, as in this passage and in Arabic
salam 'aleikum, does not occur in Assyrian.2 •
2 (iii. 32). Signs and wonders; also vi. 28; cf. Dt. iv. 34.
This is .a common expression in the N. T.
3 (iii. 33). As in iii. 1 the LXX. add the date here: "in
the eighteenth year", which, however, is not followed in this
instance by €J3.
5-8 (2-5). The similarity between these verses and ii. 3 ff.
is very striking.
8 (5). a) According to the name of my god, e. g. Bel.
This statement is correct, if, as conjectured below, the original
form of the name was "Bel protect his life" 4 •
8 (5). b) In whom is the spirit of the Holy Gods. "Holy
gods" is a heathen expression appropriately put into the mouth
of a heathen king 5• P. and V. translate this correctly, but e
renders it "God". It is probable, as a number of expositors
have suggested, that this expression is borrowed from the
passage in the .story of Joseph, Gn. xli. 38 6 which should be
translated "a man in whom is the spirit of the gods" (not
"God", as in the A. V.).

1 La isalum sulum sarrutia, V. R. 4, 134; also v. R. 8; 62-4, etc.

2 Schrader, KAT.•, p. 152, entirely misunderstood the force of sulum
iisi libbakunu tabka which does not mean "may my peace gladden
thy heart", but "I am well; may it be well with thee"; cf. AW. p. 665.
3
See above on iii. 1, p. 75. • See below philological note on i. 7.
6 See above on iii. 26, p. 81 • Cf, Bevan, p. 90, et al.
6*
 84 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

9 (6). a) Master of the Magicians; better, '~chief of the

magicians"; cf. ii. 48, where his appointment is referred to in
a preliminary way. It is highly characteristic that the king
does not call on Daniel until after he has tested the heathen
magicians, although, according to C. ii., he must have known
of the Hebrew's superior skill. This is, of course, a device
of the author whose object was to show the futility of all
heathen wisdom. To bring this about, therefore, he sacrifices
to a certain extent the consistency of his narrative, as one
would naturally expect that if Daniel were the chief magician
he would have been summoned first.
9 (6). b) Tell me the visions of my dream that I have
seen and the interpretation thereof. Lit. "the visions of
my dream that I have seen and the interpretation thereof, tell
me". 0 renders "hear'' before "the visions", evidently feeling
the incongruity of the sentence with what· follows. The king
tells Daniel here the form of his dream and does not require
him, as in C. ii., both to tell the dream and explain its mean-
ing. The passage, therefore, should read: "hear the visions
of my dream which I have seen and its interpretation do thou
tell" 7•
10 (7). I saw and behold, a tree in the midst of the
earth, etc. The striking similarity between the symbolism
used in this dream and that in Ezek. xxxi. 3-14 has been
noticed even by the early expositors and concordance writers.
It is quite possible that the author of Daniel borrowed his
idea from this passage of Ezek., as has been suggested by
several commentators 8• Besides this, the king of Babylon is
symbolized by a tree in Is. xiv. 12, a passage with which the
Maccabrean writer was very probably familiar.
11 (8). The tree grew and was strong. This gradual
growth, which the king, however, could witness, is typical of

7
See, however, Kamphausen, p. 24. • Cf, for ex., Hitzig, Dan.
p. 61, etc.
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 85

the developement of Nebuchadnezzar's power {cf: v. 22) which

was to be interrupted at its very climax by his attack of
mama.
• 12 (9). And in it was meat for all, etc., e. g. for man and
beast. Everything within Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was de-
pendent on him as supreme ruler. He was the central source
of all authority and all property. This is very like the medi-
reval feudal idea that all holders of property were tenants of
the crown.
13 (10). A watcher and an holy one. This means simply
"an angel" and does not necessarily designate a special class
of attendant spirits 9 • The expression "holy one" is necessary,
in order to show that tlte watcher was super-human; c£ <fi
lxxxix. 6; 8; Zech. xiv. 5, where "the holy ones" means "angels".
14: (11). He cried aloud and said thus. The author does
not state to whom the speech of the angel is addressed. He
probably leaves the reader to imagine that the divine emissary
is issuing his commands to various subordinate spirits who
are to carry out the decree on Nebuchadnezzar.
15 (12). a) Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots
in the earth, e. g. the king is not to be entirely destroyed.
This clearly points forward to Nebuchadnezzar's ultimate re-
covery from his madness.
15 (12). b) Even with a band of iron and brass. This ex-
pression is certainly difficult. It can hardly refer to the stump
which would not have been confined in this way 1°, but must rather
be a figure for the restraint which Nebuchadnezzar is to endure
while suffering from his malady 11,. e. g. he was to be confined
in a field with the herds (see on v. 21 ). The only possible

10
• See below, p. 86. So v. Lengerke who refers it to the iron
bands with which a tree is sometimes enclosed to keep it from
11
splitting (sic). The idea of Jerome that this refers to the chains
with which madmen (furiosi) are bound is not satisfactory. There is
nothing to indicate that Nebuchadnezzar became a furiosus in the
sense of being a dangerous madman.
86 CRl'flCAL COMMEN1'ARY.

explanation of the term is that we have here a mixture of

metaphors.
lo (12). c) In the tender grass of the field explains the pre-
ceding phrase "with a band of iron and brass", typifying the
king's confinement with the herds. It is by no means necessary
to regard this with Behrmann as an interpolation (p. 26)1 2• The
same expression occurs v. 23.
16 (13). a) Let his heart be changed from n;ian's, etc.
His human intelligence shall cease temporarily and he shall
think and act like a beast. For the discussion of the nature
of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity, see above pp. 32-5.
16 (13). b) Let seven times pass over him. "Times" must
mean "years", as in vii. 25 13• The indefinite number "seven"
was used intentionally, in order to make the period uncertain.
This is part of the punishment. The exact duration of his
disease is not to be made known to the king. He is to
suffer during Jhvh's good pleasure.
17 (14), The decree of the watchers ..... the word of
the holy ones. These are synonymous expressions in par-
allelism. According to the angelology of the 0. T., there is
a sort of heavenly council made up of attendant spirits, angels,
etc. This is seen for example from I Kings xxii. 19; Job
i. 6; ii. 1. That their decree is identical with that of Jhvh
may be seen from v. 2f. The angels are not only counsellors,
but more often direct executive emissaries of the divine will.
19 (16). a) Was astonied for one hour. This is certainly
incorrect. The word translated "hour" can mean "a moment,
a short period of time", so that the correct rendering is "for
a short time". The Seer has no difficulty in understanding
the dream, but is staggered at first at its true significance.
19 (16). b) The dream be to them that hate thee, etc.
The author can hardly have meant to convey the idea that Daniel
was especially friendly towards the king. He puts these con-
13
12See Kamphausen, p. 25. Cf. also xii. 7. Some expositors
translate "half-years", others "months", etc.
 CHAPTER POURTH. 87
ciliatory words into his mouth, intending rather to imply that
the Prophet was afraid of the king's fury and wished to dis-
claim all per~onal responsibility for the interpretation.
20 (17). The writer displays great skill here in the state-
ment of the dream by Daniel, leading up climactically to the
application in v. 22 "it is thou, 0 king", etc.
24: (21 ). The decree of the Most High. This was called
"the decree of the watchers" in v. 17 (14), showing that Jhvh
works through his messengers.
26 (23). That the heavens do rule. "Heavens" here as
a synonym for Jhvh is very interesting.. It is used as a •
plural noun evidently intended as a plural of excellence, chiefly
on the analogy of the ordinary Hebrew word for God; 'Elokim.
It is also likely, however, that the author was influenced in
his use of this plural word "heavens" by his idea regarding
the hosts of angels 14, although this was most probably only
a secondary consideration. "Heavens" is not used elsewhere
in the 0. T. in this sense, but is common in the Apocrypha 15
and Mishna to denote the Supreme Being. It is clearly a late
Hebrew usage. The application of "heavens" in such a sense
seems to have arisen from the conception that Jhvh was espe-
cially the God of the Heavens (see ii. 18; 19; 44). In the N. T.
also the heavens, e. g. the divine government, are regarded as a
kingdom presided over by the eternal Father (cf. Matth. iii. 2;
iv. 17, etc.).
27 (24:), a) Break off thy sin by righteousness and thine
iniquities by showing mercies to the poor. It is highly
striking that LXX. P. and V. translate "almsgiving'' instead
of "righteousness", in parallelism with the second member of
the · verse "showing mercies to the poor'', and it is true that
the word in later Hebrew, as in Syriac and .Arabic, has only
this meaning. Such an injunction, however, to give alms to
the needy, would hardly be appropriate in this connection ad-

u See v. 35 b and Behrmann, p. 29. 1o 1 Mace. iv. 10; 24; 55.

88 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

dressed to Nebuchadnezzar. The true sense of the passage

appears to be indicated by the actual meaning of the word
translated "poor'' in the A. V., which should be rendered
"oppressed, wretched ones". The original meaning is "bowed
down". It seems to refer, not to the destitute generally, but
especially to the oppressed of Israel in Babylon. This is in
strict accordance with the use of the same word in the later
Psalms. "Righteousness", therefore, can only mean here "gen-
erosity, kindness". The whole passage should be translated:
"Break off (i. e. cast away) thy sins by kind acts and thy
iniquities by showing mercies to the wretched ones (of Jhyh)".
27 (24). b) If it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.
There is some difference of opinion regarding this phrase 16 •
It seems however that the best rendering is as follows: - "if,
perchance 17, there may be a duration of thy prosperity". The
author probably intended to convey the idea that Nebuchad-
nezzar's future welfare would depend on his treatment of the
captive Israelites and accordingly holds this hope out as an
inducement to the heathen king. There can hardly be any
direct allusion here to Antiochus Epiphanes. The sentence is
merely an assurance to the reader that the welfare of Isra.el
is of the highest importance to Jhvh who will reward a
heathen monarch greatly or punish him terribly, according to
his treatment of the members of the chosen nation under his
rule. That such a principle was highly appropriate to the
Maccabrean period is of course apparent.
29 (26). In the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. Trans-
late "on (the roof of) the royal palace of Babylon"; cf. 2 Sam.
xi. 2, where David is described as taking the air in the same
place. It is a common custom in the East at the present
day to sit and walk on the flat roofs of the houses during
the evening and during the summer season even to sleep
there. After constructing several great temples, N ebuchad-
16 See below, philological note. 17 @ ,.,w,; V. forsitan; cf. also
Ezra v. 17.
 CHAPTER I<'OUR'rII. 89
nezzar built a magnificent palace, provided with all the luxu-
ries of the time. In the records of his reign, this building is
alluded to as a proof of the glory of his majesty, in which
the king rejoices because it is strong enough to keep out his
foes 18•
30 (27). a) Is not this great Babylon etc. See above
p. 31 for a description of the glories of Babylon under N chn-
chadnezzar. There can be no doubt that this speech of the
king is quite in accordance with historical facts.
30 (27). b) For the house of the kingdom, e. g. for his
royal residence.
31 (28). There fell a voice from Heaven. This is an
audible judgment in contrast to the visible one in the i;iext
chapter 19•
33 (30). Till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers
and his nails like birds' claws. LXX. compare the nails
to the claws of a lion, but 0 makes the hair like a lion's
mane. There is no reason, however, to depart from the re-
. ceived text which keeps the parallelism. The bird referred to
is not the eagle, but · the Oriental great vulture. The com-
parison of bristly long hair with the long and thick plumage
of this bird is not inappropriate. In Ezek. xvii. 3 the "eagle"
is said to be long-winged and full of feathers.
34- (31 ). a) And at the end of the days, e. g. of the
uncertain period of seven times (v. 23).
34- (31). b) IN. lif'ted up mine eyes to heaven. The moral
of the whole chapter is contained in this and the following
verses. The idea seems to be that the king had been engaged
in browsing on the grass like an animal. When his reason
returned and he realized that he was a man, he accordingly
lifted up his eyes. Bevan 20 cites an interesting parallel for
this expression from Euripides, Bacchae, 1265:ff. where the
maddened Agaue did the same thing. Lifting up the head,
1• See Tiele, Gesch. p. 449. rn Behrmann, p. 30, 20
Dan. p. 96.
90 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

rising to the natural human erect position and looking once

more on the heavens, the seat of Divinity, indicat~s that the
king had regained his senses and that he recognized the source
of his humiliating punishment. He, therefore, proceeds to
praise and hon~ur the God of Daniel, as in ii. and iii., thus
humbling himself before the divine Protector of Israel.
35 (32). a) And all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing 2 1• This is proba?ly a reminiscence of Is.
xI. 17. The expression "and none can stay his hand" may
have been suggested by Is. xliii. 13.
35 (32). b) The army of heaven. See 1 Kings xxii. 19;
,p ciii. 21. This is plainly an allusion to the hosts of attend-
ant spirits, the heavenly messengers, who have been men-
tioned before as being instrumental in carrying out Jhvh's will
on Nebuchadnezzar. This expression is a very ancient one
appearing in the Babylonian account of the Creation 22, e. g.
"the hosts of heaven and earth", where it refers to the myri-
ads of inferior supernatural beings who, according to the early
Semitic conception, peopled all nature. "Hosts of heaven"
was also in later times a sy,nonym for the stars which were
considered to be angels ; c£ the imagery in Rev. ix. 1.
35 (32). c) What doest thou; cf. Job ix. 12; Eccles.
viii. 4.
36 (33). , a) At the same time my reason returned unto
me. This is simply a reiteration of v. 34, in order to take ·
up the thread of the narrative which had been broken tempora-
rily by 34 b-35.
36 (33). b) And for the glory of my kingdom mine
honour and brightness returned unto me. Th'is translation
is not incorrect. These words which are needlessly omitted in
P. are perfectly clear. They can only mean that the king was
once more restored to his throne in all his former glory. The

21 For the word "nothing", see philological note. 22

K. 5419, 15;
see also IV. R. 25, 49-50b.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 91
repetition "returned unto me" is intentional and is quite in keep-
ing with the solemn style of the passage 2 3•
37 (34:). This verse is the final summing up of the result
of the king's punishment, e, g. his recognition of the God of
Israel. Hitzig's idea that v. 37 refers to a separate occurrence
from that recorded in v. 34 is entirely unwarranted 24•

. CHAPTER FIFTH.
Contrast between Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar.
The author takes quite a new departure in this and the
following chapter, although the aim of these two last narrative
sections is undoubtedly identical with that of the four pre-
ceding ones; viz., the writer strives to depict here as every-
where in the first part of the Book the certain humiliation of
a heathen king who is hostile to Israel. In Cc. v:. and vi.,
however, the subject is no longer the great king Nebuchad-
nezzar, in whose reign the scenes of the first four chapters
are laid. In C. v., we have the Biblical account of the fall
of Babylon in the reign of the great king's "son" Belshazzar
who is represented as having been, not merely haughty and
overbearing like his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar, but a blas-
phemous enemy of Jhvh _who, at a ribald banquet, actually
profaned the sacred vessels of the Holy Temple at Jerusalem
which had been brought to Babylon as spoils by Nebuchad-
nezzar and deposited by him in the treasury of the heathen
temple there. This is, of course, a direct allusion to a similar
event in the author's own time (recorded 1 Mace. i. 20-23)
and, as the sacrilege was perhaps the most fearful one conceiv-
able by a Jew, so Belshazzar's act is almost immediately
23 Hitzig translated: "and also the glory of my kingdom, my

majesty and splendour returned unto me" (pp. 70-1), which is un.
necessary. See Kamphausen, p. 26, Behr~ann, p. 31 for full discus-
sion. 24 Dan. p. 70.
92 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

followed by the most terrible punishment imaginable; viz., his

complete ·overthrow, and the passage of his kingdom to
strangers by race and religion. The stories regarding the dis-
cipline of Nebuchadnezzar and his recognition of Jhvh's power
really rise to a climax in this chapter. The great king had
never shown himself so dead to all religious feeling as actu-
ally to insult Jhvh directly. He had merely been haughtily
forgetful of his duties towards the people who were divinely
committed to his care, but had always bowed to chastisement
and freely acknowledged the power of Israel's God. In Bel-
shazzar, on the other hand, we have the culmination of wanton
irreligiou~ vice which betrays a degradation of character too
deep to admit of any improvement and which must, therefore,
simply be crushed by a single blow. Such appears to be the
author's idea in his brief character sketches of Nebuchadnezzar
and Belshazzar. There can be little doubt that in this story
of Belshazzar's fall we have the expression of a hope that a
similar fate will overtake the persecutor and desecrator of the
author's own time.
The Historical Material of the Fifth Chapter.
In order to arrive at the historical value of this account of
the overthrow of the Semitic power in Babylon, it may be
well to enter briefly into the history of that event, comparing
the most important versions.
The Account of Berossus.
Previous to the discovery of the cuneiform inscriptions relat-
ing to the fall of Babylon, comparatively little could be known
accurately. The chief sources upon which historians were
forced to depend were the account of Berossus, which Eusebius
and Josephus took from Alexander Polyhistor, and the narra-
tive of Herodotus, i. 188ff. The statement of Berossus in
Josep~ms, Contra Apionem, i. 20, is as follows: "Nabuchodon-
osor ... fell sick and departed this life when he had reigned
forty-three years, whereupon his son Evilmerodaeh obtained
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 93
the kingdom. He governed public affairs after an illegal and
impure manner, and had a plot laid against him by N eriglis-
sar, his sister's husband, and was slain by him when he had
reigned but two years. After he was slain, Neriglissar, the
person who had plotted against him, succeeded to the king-
dom and reigned four years. His son, Laborosoarchod, though
but a child, obtained the kingdom and kept it nine months,
but by reason of the very ill temper and ill practices which
he exhibited to the world, a plot was laid against him by his
friends and he was tortured to death. After his death the
conspirators got together and by common consent put the
crown upon the head of Nabonnedus, a man of Babylon and
one who belonged to that insurrection .... But when he was
come to the seventeenth year of his reign, Cyrus came out of
Persia with a great army, and having already conquered the
rest of Asia, came hastily to Babylon. When Nabonnedus
perceived that he was coming to attack him, he met him with
his forces, and joining battle was defeated and fled away with·
a few of his troops and shut himself up within the city of
Borsippus. Hereupon Cyrus took Babylon and gave order
that the outer wall of the city be demolished, because the city
had proved very troublesome, and cost him a great deal of
pains to take. He then marched to Borsippus to besiege Na-
bonnedus. As Nabonnedus, however, did not sustain the siege,
but delivered himself up beforehand, he was kindly used by
Cyrus who gave him Carmania as a place to dwell in, sending
him out of Babylon. Nabonnedus accordingly spent the rest
of his life in that country and there diedn 1•
The Account of Herodotus.
Herodotus, i. 188 ff., relates that the King of Babylon, Laby-
netus, the son of the great queen Nitocris, was attacked by

1 For this statement concerning the banishment of Nabonidus to

Carmania, cf. also Eusebius, Evang. l'nep. ix. 40-41; Chron. Arm. i. 10,
the account of Abydenus.
 94 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

Cyrus. The Persian king, on his march to Babylon, arrived

at the river Gyndes, a tributary of the Tigris. While the
Persians were trying to cross this stream, one of the white
consecrated horses boldly entered the water and, being swept
away by the rapidity of the current, was lost. Cyrus, exas-
perated by the accident, suspended bis operations against Baby-
lon and wasted the entire summer in satisfying his resentment
by draining the river dry. On the approach of the following
spr~ng, however, he marched against Babylon. The Babyloni-
ans, as he advanced, met and gave him battle, but were defeated
and driven back into the· city. The inhabitants of Babylon
had previously guarded against a siege by collecting provisions
and other necessaries sufficient for many years' support, so
that Cyrus was compelled to resort to stratagem. He accord-
ingly "placed one detachment of his forces where the river
first enters the city and another where it leaves it, directing
them to go into the channel and attack the town wherever the
passage could be effected. After this disposition of his men,
he withdrew with the less effective of his troops to the marshy
, ground .•. and pierced the bank, introducing the river into
the lake (the lake made by Nitocris some distance from Baby-
lon; see Herodotus, i. 185), by which means the bed of the
Euphrates became sufficiently shallow for· the object in view.
The Persians in their station watched the better opportunity
and when the stream had so far retired as not to be higher
than their thighs they entered Babylon without difficulty'.
The account goes on to say that, as the Babylonians were
engaged in a festival, they were completely surprised by the
sudden attack and unable to defend the city which thus fell
· an easy prey to the invaders.

The Cuneiform Records.

The two cuneiform documents relating to the fall of Baby-
lon which have shed a wonderful light on this period of the
world's history arc the Cyrus Cylinder and the Annals of
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 95
Nabonidus 2• The former was discovered in 1879 by the work-
men of Hormuzd Rassam in the ruins of Qai;r at Babylon,
a hill which, according to the opinion' of Rassam, covers the
remains of a great palace, i. e. that of Nebuchadnezzar. The
tablet called the Annals of Nabonidus was obtained by the
British Museum in 1879 from Spartoli and Co. The place
where it was found is unknown, although Mr. Pinches declares
decidedly that the document came from Babylon. It seems
to belong to a series of annalistic tablets which were collected
and preserved by the Achmmenian kings. The Cyrus Cylinder
is a highly laudatory account of Cyrus's glorious entrance into
Babylon, evidently written by some scribe under the Persian
rule, while the so-called Annals are a concise historical sum-
mary of the events of the reign of N abonidus until the ac-
cession of Cyrus, a paragraph being devoted to the events of
each year.
The Developement of Cyrus' Power.
Before passing on to the history of the advance of the
Persians on Babylonia the following facts should be noticed.
After Cyrus, king of the unimportant state of Ansan 3, accord-
ing to the record of the Annals, had got possession of Media,
the Persian prince, finding himself transformed from the ruler
of an insignificant province to the leader of a great kingdom,
turned his eyes westward. Here Nabonidus the king of Baby-
lon, who had at first regarded the defeat of his old enemies
the Medes 4 as a direct intervention of the gods, now becom-
ing alarmed at the sudden rise of this new power,, concluded
an offensive and defensive alliance with Lydia and Egypt, a
league which should certainly have been sufficient to check the
advance of the Persian forces. Lydia was compelled, how-
ever, by the swift movements of the enemy to defend herself

• See Prince, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, pp. 65--101. 3 See

Appendix. • The Medes during the reign of Nabonidus had attacked

and destroyed the city of Barran and the temple of the Moon-god;
cf. V. R.. 64, 12.
96 ClH'rICAL COMMENTARY.

without waiting for her allies. Cyrus, after totally routing the
Lydian army at Pteria 5, proceeded directly against Bardis, the
capital, which he captured without difficulty and there estab-
lished his permanent headquarters in the northwest. The Per-
sian king did not hasten at once against Babylonia, his second
powerful rival, but, after settling affairs in Lydia and ap-
pointing governours 6 over all the conquered provinces, returned
to Ecbatana.
The true historical Account.
The following historical account of the approach of Cyrus
on Babylonia and the fall of that empire may be gathered
from the Annals of N abonidus and the Cyrus Cylinder.
The record of the Annals, which must have been very com-
plete, is unhappily so mutilated that comparatively little can
be ]earned about the early period of the invasion. We may
conjecture from a very broken passage (c. ii. I. 21-22) that
the Persians may have made an invasion from Elam against
Erech, in the tenth year of N abonidus, but this is by no
means certain. Where the text treating of the actual conquest
of Babylon is legible, the matter seems practically to be deci-
ded. It is stated that Nabonidns. entered the Temple of
Eturkalama (Annals, iii. 6), most probably to seek help from
the gods. We may then conjecture, - the translation is very
doubtful, - that a rebellion against his authority took place
5
See Herodotus, i. 76. Note that Justin, Hist., i. 7, makes Cyrus
begin the war with Babylon before that with Lydia, interrupting his
conflict, however, in order to conquer Crmsus who had offered aid to
Babylon. Sulpicius, Hist., ii. 10, passed directly from the Median con•
quest to that of Babylonia. Crmsus, king of Lydia, whom Cyrus
captured, was according to Herodotus, i. 75, the brother-in-law of
Astyages. Cyrus treated him kindly and gave him the city of Barene
near Ecbatana as a residence, according to Ctesias, with five thousand
riders and ten thousand bowmen as retinue. 6 See Herodotus, i. 15:3.

The post of governor of Sardis was one of the most important positions
in the Persian Empire. This official seems to have held the precedence
over the neighbouring satraps. Compare Noldeke, Aufsatze zur alt-
persischen Geschichte, p. 21.
 CHAPTER FIFTII. 97
on the lower sea. The god Bel was apparently brought out
with a solemn religious festival (c. iii. 8. 9. 10), and, as a last
resource, numerous deities were brought to Babylon as a pro-
tection to that city. This, says the chronicler of the Cyrus
Cylinder, so infuriated Marduk, the god of the city of Baby-
lon, that he decided to deliver up Nabonidus to Cyrus (Cyl.
10 ff. and 33, 34). In the month Tammuz (539 B. C.) Cyrus
offered battle at Opis and apparently also on a canal(?) Sal-
sallat, which evidently resulted in his favor. The Babylonians,
defeated on all sides and disgusted with their feeble king,
surrendered Sippar to the Persians on the 14th of Tammuz
(539-538 B. C., see Annals iii. 14). As this city was the key
to the whole sluice region it was important for Cyrus to get
possession of it before he could besiege Babylon successfully.
By breaking the dams at Sippar in case of need, the water
could be cut off from all the plain. As we have seen, accord-
ing to the account of Herodotus just given above, Babylon
was said to have been captured by the device of drawing off
the water of the Euphrates 7, but the short space of time inter-
vening between the capture of Sippar and Babylon seems to
show that no such device was resorted to. Two days after
the capture of Sippar (16th of Tammuz), the gates of the
capital itself were opened to Gobryas 8, the governor of Gutium
and commander of a section of the Persian army, ·who for-

7 Of. also Xenophon, Cyrop. vii. 5, 15. s In the record. of the

Cylinder no mention is made of Gobryas; it is simply stated that
Cyrus and his army entered the city without battle. See Cyl., 16, 17.
The Annals, however, give more details of the conquest and, moreover,
are a strictly impartial account. It is much more flattering to Cyrus
to attribute to him, as in the Cylinder, all the glory of the capture
and not to mention any of his generals. It is interesting to notice
that Xen., Cyrop. , vii. 5, 24 :ff., has also preserved the account of
the capture of the city by Gobryas, making him, however, a great
Assyrian leader, who, desiring vengeance on the king of Babylon for
the murder of his only son, allied himself with Cyrus. According
to Xenophon, Babylon was taken by the two generals, Gobryas and
Gadates.
Prince, Daniel. 7
98 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

mally took possession of the city in Cyrus's name "without

strife or battle".
Nabonidus, who had fled to Babylon after the capture of
Sippar, was taken prisoner and held to await the coming of
Cyrus. Here again, owing to a doubtful text, we are reduced
to conjecture. The Babylonian party seems to have wished to
use the temples as storehouses for arms(?), for the troops of
Gobryas surrounded them and guarded them carefully.
Four months later, on the third of Marchesvan, Cyrus him-
self entered the city of Babylon and decreed peace to all,
appointing his general Gobryas governour of the city and send-
ing back to their own shrines the gods which N abonidus had
brought to Babylon. The Persian monarch was received with
great rejoicings by the nobles, priests and people, who hastened
to declare their allegiance (Cyl. 18). He then assumed for-
mally the title of king· of Babylon and of Snmer and Akkad
(Cyl. 20), receiving the homage of the tributary kings of the
westland 9 (Cyl. 28). It is probable, in accordance with the
account of Berossus, given above, that Cyrus dismantled to
some extent the fortifications of Babylon soon after its capture.
That he cannot utterly have destroyed the defences is evident
from the fact that the city stood repeated sieges during sub-
sequent revolts; one under Cyrus, two under Darius Hystaspis,
and one under Xerxes 10 • Judging from the assertion of Je-
rome 11 that the walls had been repaired and renewed as an
enclosure for a park, they were probably at no time completely
destroyed.

9Gaza alone in the land of the Philistines seems to have refused

tribute and offered resistance; see the citation to Valesius Poly b., xvi. 40,
quoted by N5ldeke, Aufsatze, p. 23. n. 2. 10 See G. Rawlinson,

Herodotus, p. 425, n. 5. For the second revolt of Babylon, see Herod.,

iii. 153-160, the story of Zopyrus. A curious work regarding Zopyrus
is that of Joh. Christoph. De Zopyro Babylonios fallente , 1685.
11 Comm. on Isaiah iii. 23; ed. Vallarsi, iv. p. 180.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 99
The causes for the Fall of Babylon.
The causes which led to the fall of the Babylonian dynasty
and to the transferring of the empire to the Persians are not
difficult to determine.
Nabupa[iu;ur, the father of the great Nebuchadnezzar, was
the first independent king of Babylon after the overthrow of
Assyria. After an uneventful reign of twenty-one years he
was succeeded by his son Nebuchadnezzar, the real founder of
the empire of Babylon. He was not only a great warrior, the
terror of whose arms was felt as far as Egypt, and who, by
his conquests made Babylon the political centre of a mighty
empire, but also a lover of art and architecture, who prized
his reputation as the restorer of the capital far more than his
military fame 12• As remarked above, Nebuchadnezzar was the
greatest ~ame in Babylonian history, the culminating point of
Babylonian glory. After his time the kings were weak, incapable
characters, judging from the account of Berossus, not even able
to protect their own crowns. The last king, Nabonidns, though
better than his immediate predecessors, was the creature of a
conspiracy against his youthful predecessor Labasi-Marduk.
Nabonidus was probably not of royal blood, as it is stated in
the record of Berossus that he was a man of Babylon, and he
calls himself in his inscriptions, the son of a noble 13•
It will appear, therefore, that the seeds of decay were ripen-
ing fast, as early as the beginning of the reign of this king,
who, had he been a different character, might have delayed the
final catastrophe at least beyond his own lifetime. B_ut Nabo-
nidus, as is evident from the tone of the records of his reign,
was by nature a peaceful prince, whose taste lay not in govern-
ment or conquest, but in archreology and religious architecture.
12 See above p. 31. 13 Compare the account of Berossus given

above and the record of Abydenus quoting Megasthenes as saying

that "Labassoracus" being destroyed, they made Nabonidus paaiUa
neou~xona ot otioiv "king having no claim to this rank"; see Euseb.
Prrep., Evang., ix. 40, 41; Euseb., Chron. Armen. i. c. 10.
7*
 100 CRJ'l'ICAL COMMENTARY.

His inscriptions are one long list of temples repaired 14 and pious
duties performed. Under his feeble sway the vast and hetero-
geneous empire, lacking the strong hand of a conquering
ruler to punish defection and protect his subjects from for-
eign attacks 15, naturally began to fall to pieces, until finally
the Babylonian name in Western Asia, became more a shadow
than a reality.
Toward the close of his reign Nabonidus showed himself
even more incapable than in his earlier years, for while devot-
ing especial attention to the repairing and maintenance of the
temples, he entirely neglected the defences of the capital,
choosing to live in Terna rather than in Babylon, and evidently
leaving all military matters to his son, who, as shown above
(p. 37), was probably in command of the army. Practically
no steps seem to have been taken either to prevent the ad-
vance of the Persians or to meet them when they came, so
that when Cyrus arrived, he probably found a people discon-
tented with their king and ready to exchange his rule for a
firmer sway. The fact that both Sippar and Babylon were
taken by the Persian forces "without battle" certainly seems
to show that there existed a powerful faction in Babylonia in
league with the invaders.
It is possible that the priests of Marduk in the city of
Babylon were especially instrumental in bringing about the
final blow. We have already noticed that the priesthood was
probably hostile to Belsarut;ur the crown-prince: It can easily
be imagined how, disgusted with the king's neglect of the reg-
ular offerings and finally, infuriated with his infringement on
the jurisdiction of their god by introducing strange deities into

u Hagen in the BA. ii. p. 237, note, gives a complete list of the
16
temples repaired by Nabonidus. The king seems to have been
unable, either to prevent the attack of the Medes on Harran, or to
punish them for their destruction of the city. He was equally
powerless to resist the expedition of Amasis of Egypt against Cyprus,
by which several cities were captured. See Tiele, Gesch. p. 468.
 CHAPTER :Fl.FTH. 101
Babylon, they would naturally have cast their influence in favour
of a change of rule 16• It must be remembered that the priests
exercised the most powerful influence in Babylonian affairs,
being even stronger than the royal house. The inscriptions of
every sort point to the supremacy and importance of the reli-
gious classes, one of the most constant themes of these docu-
ments being the frequent allusion to buildings of temples, tem-
ple gifts, restoration of offerings, etc. This prominence of the
priestly classes is to be explained by the fact that they were
the custodians of all knowledge. The arts of writing, astro-
nomy, and magic were their peculiar provinces. It will readily
be understood, therefore, that their favour or disfavour would
turn the scale in an attempt against the reigning dynasty. In
addition to this it may be supposed that the large Jewish
element which had been transplanted to Babylon by Nebuchad-
nezzar and which could not be expected to feel especially
well disposed toward the Babylonian dynasty, probably played
a considerable part in the final conspiracy. Their reasons for
so doing were of course not identical with those of the rebel-
lious Babylonians. It may be supposed that the native Baby-
lonians, glad at any price to be rid of their incompetent ruler,
were forced to make the best of a foreign supremacy, while
the religious element among the captive Jews, to whom per-
mission to return to Palestine may have been promised be-
forehand 17 , certainly regarded Cyrus as the Anointed of Jhvh,
16 Nabonidus was certainly not a reactionary heretic who tried to

introduce a Sin cult; (so Floigl, Cyrus und Her., p. 2) first, because
the king did not confine his attention to Sin (cf. the list of the tern·
ples repaired, Hagen, BA. ii. p. 237 note,) and secondly, as Tiele has
pointed out (Gesch., p. 460), it was the priests of Marduk who inspired
him to repair the temples and to give attention to the cults of other
deities. Compare V. R. 64, 16, where Marduk reveals his will in this
connection to Nabonidus in a dream. The insult to Marduk which
turned the scale against the king was his criminal slothfulness about
protecting Babylon and his introduction of other gods into Marduk's
11
own city. Compare the enthusiastic prophecies regarding the
destruction of Babylon and the references to Cyrus, the shepherd of
102 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

who would carry out His will in every respect and utterly
destroy Babylon and its gods, a hope which Cyrus was wise
enough not to realize.
The Feast.
That a festival, as mentioned in the Book of Daniel, actually
took place on the eye of the capture of Babylon is not at all
improbable 18 • Although we have no parallel account of such
au event in the inscriptions 19, it certainly seems rather signi-
ficant that both Herodotus and Xenophon allude to a feast at
this time. As we have seen, ac~ording to Herodotus i. 191,
Babylon was captured while the besieged were off their guard
during a festival. Xenophon also, alluding to the capture of
Babylon, says that Cyrus had heard that a feast was going
on 20 • Of course, the allusion in Jeremiah Ii. 39, referred to
in Rawlinson's Herodotus, i. p. 424, is merely general and
cannot be understood as referring to a final festival.
Correct Traditions.
It is now demonstrated by· the cuneiform inscriptions that
at least the name Belshazzar 21, not found elsewhere in the

God, Isaiah, xiii. xiv. xliv. 28; xlv.; 1Jf cxxxvii; Jer. 1-li. Cyrus per-
mitted the Jews to return to their old home in the first year of his
reign-537 B.C. See Ezra, i. The prophecies· of the destruction of
Babylon were certainly not carried out, the only one fulfilled to the
letter being that regarding the return of the Jews.
18 It may not be uninteresting to note, that Havemick, Dan. p. 176,

following Vorstius, Exercit. Acad. p. 4 identified this final feast of

the Book of Daniel with the Imwla which, according to Athemeus
(Deipnosoph. xiv. 639), corresponded· to the Saturnalia. 1 • In ·the

Annals of Nabonidus, iii. 8, mention is made of a religious festival

(the New Year's feast) which took place probably about twelve months
before the capture of the city. This, Andrea, Beweis des Glaubens,
1888, p. 257, etc., believed to be the festival of the Book of Daniel;
20
a highly improbable theory. Cyrop. vii. 5, 15. 21 See above

pp. 35 ff. It is interesting to note that the Babylonian proper names

in Daniel seem to be for the most part genuine, although of course
it cannot be supposed that the author understood their meaning.
Compare in this connection the names Arioch, Belteshaz,zar, and
Abednego which are traceable to a Babylonian origin, and see further
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 103
Old Testament, is based on correct tradition, notwithstanding
the errors into which• the author fell regarding the person of
the last king. Although undoubtedly wrong in considering
Belshazzar the last king of Babylon, the writer of Dani~l may
have been influenced in this particular by tradition. BelsarU1;ur
was the son of the last king, and was probably, as stated
above p. 37, in command of the army and actively concerned
in the conflict with the invading Persians. We cannot doubt
that he was a person of great political prominence in the em-
pire, and it is even possible that he may have. been possessed
of more influence than his father. If this were the case, a
legend making the crown-prince the real king is easily to be
explained.
The author of Daniel seems to be approximately correct
concerning the death of Belshazzar. The Biblical Belshazzar
was slain on the eve of the capture of the city by the Persians,
and it is extremely likely from a new reading of a mutilated
passage in the Annals of Nabonidus (iii., 1. 23), that BelsaruQur
the king's son met his death soon after the capture of Baby-
lon by Cyrus's forces. If the reading which I have adopted
of this passage of the Annals be correct 22, it is probable that
after the capture of Babylon, Belshazzar with a remnant of
the royal forces made a last despairing resistance which was
crushed by Cyrns's general Gobryas, and that the patriot prince
thus met his death at the hands of the invader 23• The Annals

Friedr. Delitzsch in the Preface to Baer and Delitzsch, Text of Ezra.,

Neh. and Daniel. It is instructive te observe here the difference
between the genuine names in Daniel and the spurious character of
those in the book of Judith, showing the superiority of the tradition
followed by the author of Daniel.
22 See Prince, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, p. 89. 23 It should

be noticed that both of the Babylonian rebels against Darius Hyst- ·

aspis gave themselves out to be Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabonidus.
This certainly seems to show that at that time Belsarul}'Wf, the first-
born son of the king, was generally known to be dead, as other-
wise his name would have served as a more promising catchword for
rebellion than that of a younger prince. According to Behistun, 1, 16;
104 CRITICAL COMMEN'l'ARY.

go on to say that a solemn mourning was then instituted,

probably by order of Cyrus himself.
Of course nothing certain about this event can be known
until a duplicate text be discovered which shall supply the
missing words of the mutilated passage. If the interpretation
here given is correct, the agreement of both Herodotus and
Xenophon, as well as of the book of Daniel, that the last king
of Babylon was slain at the time of the capture of the city,
may be a perversion of this account of the death of the king's
son. It is interesting to note here that the author of Isaiah
xiv. 19, clearly expected the destruction of the last king of
Babylon with the overthrow of the city. We may conclude,
then, that in the case of the Book of Daniel, the tradition
which the author followed in calling the last king Belshazzar,
may have arisen from the prominence of the son of Nabonidus
during his father's reign, and perhaps especially towards its
close, in the government of Babylon; and that the allusion
to Belshazzar's death about the time of the capture of Baby-
lon possibly had its origin in the death of the king's son at
the hands of the Persians.
The preservation of the name Belshazzar, found only here
in the Old Testament, and now confirmed by the cuneiform
inscriptions, the approximately correct statement regarding his
death, and the striking agreement just mentioned of the record
of Herodotus and the Biblical account would seem to show,
therefore, that the story of the fifth chapter of Daniel may
not altogether lack an historical element.
The filth chapter of Daniel falls naturally into four para-
graphs; viz., the profanation of the Temple vessels, 1-4; the

3, 13; 4, 2, the names of these two rebellious chiefs were Naii,intabel,

son of Amri, who seems to have been for a short time successful in
his rebellion, as there are a few contracts dating from the first year
of his reign (Hommel, Geach. p. 787, n. 1), and Arakh an Armenian,
son of Handikes. Nothing is known of this Nebuchadnezzar, son of
Nabonidus.
 CHAP'l'ER FlF'l'H. 105
portent, 5 -12; the entrance of Daniel, 13-16; his interpre-
tation of the prophetic sentence and its fnlfillment, 17-25.
1. a) A great feast. The Babylonians were celebrated for
the luxury of their private life, cf. Cnrtius v. 1 "the Baby-
lonians are very much given to wine and to whatever pro-
duces drunkenness".
1. b) Before the thousand, e. g. facing them. At such a
feast the king would naturally sit facing his lords at a sep-
arate table; cf. 1 Sam. xx. 25, where it is stated that the
king sat during his meal on a special seat by the wall. The
Assyrian kings when eating also sat apart in this way; cf.
fig. 33 in Kaulcn's Assyrien nnd Babylonicn, p. 54, represent-
ing a monarch taking his meal surrounded by servants and
protected by the gods. It is recorded 2 4, furthermore, that
this was also the custom of the Persian and Parthian kings
at festivals 25• The expression "drank wine before the thou.:.
sand" does not mean that the king pledged them· a toast 26 ,
but is rather an indication that the author wished to lay
stress on the bad example set by Belshazzar 27 in thus feasting
riotously before such a great number of people. A.thenams
says, loc. cit. u that the Persian kings generally had about
twelve guests when they feasted.
2, a) While he tasted the wine 28• This translation is
incorrect. It should be rendered: "being under the influence
of the wine". R. Salomo and lbn Ezra understood the pas-
sage correctly, translating "at the bidding of the wine" 29•
2. b) Commanded to bring the golden and silver ves-
sels. The author evidently regarded this as a terrible pro-

•• Athenoous, Deipnosophistoo, Bk. iv. 26, on the authority of Hera-

elides of Cuma; Posidonius, De Parth. i. v; in Athen. iv. 38. 25 For

ancient customs regarding the royal table, see Jahn, Biblical Archoo-
ology (Upham) § 227. 2 • Bertholdt, Dan. p. 364; Havemick, Dan.

p. 174. 27 Behrmann, p. 32. 2 • See Havernick, p. 174; Kranich-

feld, p. 214; Hitzig, p. 79, etc. 2 • Cf. Havernick, p. 175. LXX 'Evo,pov-

µivo, r1no rov o,vo1•; @ fr rif ycti<Tn rov otvov; V. jam temulentus.
106 CRITIQAL COMMENTARY.

fanation (see v. 23). Havernick's strange idea 30 that Belshaz-

zar wished to honour Jhvh by using the sacred vessels,
finds no confirmation in the text. That the vessels were not
sent for until the king was well in his cups, seems to show
that the author wished to represent the command as a drunken
whim. These vessels were brought to Babylon by Nebuchad-
nezzar at the time of the first capture of Jerusalem (597
B. C.) in the reign of Jcconiah (2 Kings xxiv. 13), and were
restored by Cyrus in the first year of his reign at the time
of the return of the exiles (Ezra i. 7 ff.). The allusion to the
vessels being brought from Jerusalem to Babylon was first
made C. i. 2.
2. c) His wives and his concubines. The wife of the
king who held the rank of queen was among the Assyrians
and Babylonians usually she who bore the first son 31• As it
is well known that the greatest freedom of life prevailed at
Babylon, especially with regard to the relations between the
sexes, there is nothing incongruous in the statement that
women were present at feasts. According to Curtius 5. 5,
they were admitted to drinking bouts 32 • Regarding the
Persian customs in this matter, accounts vary. According to
Josephus 33, .it does not seem to have been proper for women
to be seen by strangers. On the other hand, if the record
of Esther can be trusted thus far, the queen consort seems
to have been able to invite men high in rank to dine with
her and the king (Esther v.). In Herodotus, too (5. 18), it is
stated that not only the concubines, but also the young wives
,. __________________________
30
Dan., pp. 175 if. 31
Of. Delitzsch-Miirdter, Gesch. p. 118.
32 Curtius says: "Femimarum convivia ineuntium in principio modestus
est habitus; dein summa quaeque amicula exuunt, paulatimque pudorem
profanant; ad ultimum (honos auribus sit) ima eorporum velamento
projiciunt; nee meretricum hoe dedecus est sed matronarum virginumque
apud quas comites habetur vulgati corporis vilitas". See also Her. v. 18.
33 See Ant. xi. 6, 1, referring to Esther i. 10; 12, the refusal of Vashti

to obey the king's command to present herself before him and his
lords.
 CHAPTER }'ll!'TH. 107
were accustomed to be present .at Persian feasts. Plutarch,
however, asserts (Sympos. I. 1.) that concubines were allowed
at feasts, but not wives 34•
It is worthy of notice that the Septuagint makes no men-
tion of the presence of women in this passage of Daniel.
The probability is that the translator deliberately omitted it,
as being repugnant to his ideas of propriety 3 5 •
3. a) - .V ersc 3 is a good example of the repetition of
the narrative style. One codex omits it altogether, - see
Bertholdt, Daniel p. 368. n. 4.
3. b) The golden vessels. Insert here the words "and
silver'', e. g. "the vessels of gold and silver''; so 0 and V.
5. a) Over against th~ candlestick, c. g. opposite the
light where the writing could be most easily seen.
There is a double Greek translation of vv. 1, 4 and 5 36•
In this verse the words written on the wall are transferred
from v. 25 and the following interpretation is given: mane
"it is numbered"; phares ''it is taken away'' and, thekel "it
is weighed".
5. b) Upon the plaster of the wall. . A plain stucco
work or simple painted plaster. In the ruins of the palace
at Nimroud a thin coating of painted plaster was discovered
by Layard, the colours of which when first found were still
fresh and brilliant 37• The interior of the later Babylonian
houses was frequently painted, on the lower half of the wall
more in figures, but above ornamentally 38• That plaster
mixed with ashes was used for mortar is evident from the
ruins of Ur (Mugheir), but it is probabl/ a later develop-
ment. Plaster seems to have been known also in Palestine;
c£ Josephus, Antiquities, viii. 5. 2., describing Solomon's pal-

u Cf. Pusey, Dan. p. 382, vi. 2. This statement was applied to the
Parthians by Macrobius, Saturnalia, Lib. vii. l; cf. also Justin, xli. 3.
35 So Havernick, p. 180. 38 For the variants, see Pusey, p. 502.

See pp. 112 ff. 37

Nineveh ii. p. 203; also Kaulen, Assyrien u. Bab.
38
pp. 52; 109; 262. See Reber, ZA. i," p. 303.
108 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

ace; "but the other part up to the roof was plastered over
and, as it were, embroidered with colours and pictures 39 •
The feast of Belshazzar is represented by the author to be
in a room or hall, and not necessarily in a garden (v. Lengerke),
or pavilion (Havernick). Hezel (cited Bertholdt, Daniel p. 369)
thought that it was in the inner court of the palace (?).
o. c) And the king saw the part of the hand that
wrote. For "part'', translate "surface of the hand". It is
interesting to note in this connection that so great a scholar
as Johann David Michaelis, of _Gottingen, was the author of
the following wild but amusing theory. He translated the
expression "surface of the hand" by "the inner surface or
palm of the hand". That is, the hand must have appeared
to .the king as if writing from the other side of the wall,
which by some mysterious means had become transparent!
The idea in the author's mind seems to have been that the
king saw the outline of the miraculous hand which appeared
above his couch.
6. The joints of his lo~s were loosed. The loins were
regarded as the scat of both fear and suffering, cf. Ezek.
xxi.12; P lxix. 24; Dent. xxxiii.11; Is. xxi. 3; Nah. ii. 12.
7. a) Shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain
of gold about his neck. Better "should wear scarlet and
a chain of gold about his neck". There is no need to supply
"have" as does the A. V.
The darker purple scarlet was a colour held in high esteem
in antiquity. Oom_pare Ezekiel xxvii. 7; Esther viii. 15, Herod-
otus 3. 20, and 'Xenophon, Cyroprndia 1. 3. 2: 8. 5. 18. We
may remember the purpurati of the Persian kings who wore
the xa11ovr;. Oriental sovereigns sent robes of this colour to
their vassals very much as the popes sent the pallium in the
middle ages l l Maccabees x. 20 : xiv. 43. 44.). The Syriac
chronicle of the Jacobite primate Gregory Bar. Hebrrnus

30 In this connection, cf. Jahn, op. cit. § 39.

 CHAPTFR FIFTH. 109
(1226-1286 A. D.) relates how the Sultan Masud sent a purple
robe to a favourite who had done him a service.
A gold chain seems to have been worn by the higher class
Persians (Xenophon, Anab. 1. 8. 29). It was given as a sign
of special favor (cf. Herodotus, 3. 20: Anabasis, 1. 27, and
Jahn, op. cit. § 130). The idea may have been suggest,ed by
the account in Gen. xli. 42 of a similar honour shown to
Joseph..
7. b) Third in rank, i. e. after Nabonidus and Belshazzar.
Probably not "one of the board of three", following chapter
vi. 3, although the translation is possible 40 • The old idea
was that Daniel was to be second Vizier, the first Vizier being
called the "second'' after the king 41 • Ka.utzsch 42, thought
that it probably meant afwr Nabonidus and the queen-mother.
8, Then came in all the King's wise men, etc. This
· is precisely the same idea as in ii. and iv. The heathen
astrologers are unable to inwrpret the' mystery and the king
is compelled to turn to the Prophet of the true God; c£ above
on iv. 9 (6).
10. a) The queen here must mean either the chief wife
or the mother of the king. It has been stated, however, in
vv. 2 and 3 that the wives of the king were already present
and this fact and the tone of command which the author
gives his "queen" in this passage seem to show that be con-
sidered her not the wife, but the mother of Belshazzar. That
the queen-mother was meant was the .opinion of the majority
of the older commentators 43•
The queen-dowager was a powerful and important per-
sonage in ancient times; cf. 1 Kings xv. 13; 2 Chron. xv. 16.
. As at present, she ruled during the minority of the king and
probably always had an advisory voice in the management of

40
Cf. Kranichfeld, pp. 9; 21; Hitzig, p. 81, and more recently
Siegfried, Theol. Lit.-Zeit. Jan. 10, 1891; Driver, In trod. p. 460. 41 Cf.
Esther x. 3; Havernick, p. 185; Lengerke, p. 251 etc. 42 Gr. p. 121.

•• For the Queen-Mother, see above p. 43.

110 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

the government. In modern Turkey, as was the case in an-

cient Egypt, the queen-mother is a weighty factor in political
affairs. Among the Hebrews the queen-dowager ranked after
the king, but before his wives; c£ 2 Kings xxiv. 15.
Li the Assyrian letters the king's greeting to the _queen-
mother is of the most respectfol character. Thus, in the letter
translated by Delitzsch, BA. i. 187-188, we find the heading:
"word of the king to the queen-mother, my greeting, greeting
to the queen-mother".
When the king greets a subject he uses the words "may
thy heart be glad'', but in the message to the queen-mother
such an address would be disrespectful. In . spite of the
honour accorded by the king to his mother, it is interesting
to notice that he never calls her "his Lady'', a fact to which
Delitzsch has called attention as indicating the evident su-
premacy of the king. From the tone of the above mentioned
letter the king was ready to carry out his mother's behests,
but her commands must first have the royal sanction. For
other references in the cuneiform inscriptions to the queen-
dowager, c£ Delitzsch, op. cit. pp. 189; 192.
10. b) By reason of the words, etc. Everything was in
confosion (see v. 9) and the queen entered the hall to ascer-
tain the cause of the uproar.
11. The repetition of the words "thy father'' at the end
of the verse is not necessarily an anacolouthon (Kautsch,
p. 163), but simply for emphasis 0 • The great king did it
himself.
13. a) Art thou that Daniel j> Better "So thou art Daniel",
reflectively. If this translation be adopted, there is certainly
no contradiction between this verse and the statement lll
C. viii. 27, that Daniel had already been in the service of

u So V.: "et rea: N. pate;r tuus principem majorum .... pater inquam
tuus". The well known commentator, Moses Stuart, s9metime Theo-
logical Professor at Andover, was also of this opinion; see his Daniel,
Boston, 1850, on this verse.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 111
Belshazzar. The king does not say "art thou Daniel t", as if
he had never before heard the name, but remarks reflectively
"so thou art Daniel". The author certainly did not intend
to represent in this address any latent scorn at Dauiel's
Jewish origin, according to Calvin's strange idea (followed by
Havernick, Dan. p. 194).
13. b) Whom the king, etc. The relative pronoun refers
to the exiles and not to Daniel directly as the V ulgate has it.
0 translates it correctly.
15. The wise men, the astrologers. Simple asyndeton,
c£ i 20; ii. 27. 45. The Syriac version inserts the copula.
Havernick, Dan. p. 194, and Bertholdt, Dan. p. 380, following
0, supposed that the other classes of magicians had been
omitted.
17. a) ·Let thy gifts be to thyself, etc. Daniel refuses
to accept the promised reward, because he is unwilling to be
under any obligation to the dissolute Belshazzar. He had
accepted, however, a similar honour from Nebuchadnezzar;
see ii. 48.
17. b) Yet I will read the writing. The author gives
the Prophet time to examine and read the writing during the
king's speech. The translators of LXX. thought it necessary
to add: "Then Daniel stood before the writing and under-
stood it and spake thus".
18. a) 0 King - really "Thou O King'' - a nominative
absolute, as in ii. 29. ·
18. b) Notice the contrast so strongly emphasized in these
verses 18-20, between the great Nebuchadnezzar, and his in-
significant successor. The point is, that if N ebuchadnczzar,
. the great king, suffered such punishment for his pride from
the Most High, how much more then Belshazzar who has
deliberately insulted the God of the Heavens by the profane
use of His sacred vessels.
21, And his dwelling was with the wild asses. The
translation "wild asses" makes no sense, as no author would
112 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

represent a mortal man taking up his abode with these swiftest

denizens of the desert. The text should be changed so as
to read "with the herds""' 5• For this legend regarding Nebu-
chadnezzar, see iv. 25-34 and above, pp. 32 :ff.
23, a) And they have brought the vessels of his house
before thee, etc. Herein lies the chief sin of Belshazzar
for which he must suffer the worst possible punishment.
23. b) Which see not, nor hear, nor know. Cf. 1l1
cxxx. 16, 17. "They have mouths, but they speak not, eyes have
they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not,
neither is there any breath in their mouths". Also 1l1 exv. 4 ff.
23, c) Whose are all thy ways. Cf. Jer. x. 23: "0 Lord,
I know that the way of man is not in himself''. "Way" here
means "destiny".
24. Then. This is correct. So P. 0 -and V. translate
"therefore" which is inexact.
25. a) Mene mene tekel upharsin. The first mene means
"there have been counted"; the second mene "a mina"; tekel
"a shekel"; upharsin "and (two) half minas", e. g. u "and",
and parsin "half minas". The correct translation, therefore,
is "there have been counted a mina, a shekel and (two) half
minas''. The mina alludes to Nebuchadnezzar, the shekel,
one sixtieth 46 as valuable, points to the insignificant Bel-
shazzar, while the half minas must refer to the double nation,
the Medes and Persians, who are to destroy the power of
Nebuchadnezzar. The exact interpretation would be: "There
" So J. D. Michaelis, Dan. p. 51.
4
This is actually the reading of
an old codex. u It is well known that the weight mina contained
60 shekels, this shekel serving also as the smallest gold unit; i. e,,
a gold shekel weighed one sixtieth of the weight mina. The money
mina on the other hand contained only 50 shekels. See Levy, Chal-
daisches Worterbuch, under ~r.i and compare C. F. Lehmann, in Ver-
handlungen der physikalischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin, published Feb-
ruary, 1890, p. 95, also Verhandlungen der Berliner Anthropologi-
schen Gesellschaft, March, 1889, p. 249; Encycl. Brit. xvii. 631 and
Haupt, ASKT. p. 55, 42: Qibit 1 ma-na, 12 siq7i-tan, "the interest of one
mina is twelve shekels"; ·i. e., at 20 per cent. '
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 113

have been fixed by fate the reigns of the great king Nebu-
chadnezzar, the Mina; of the insignificant Bclshazzar his
wicked successor, the shekel ; and the dominion of the Medes
and Persians, the half minas, whose combined power is to
equal that of Nebuchadnezzar''. To stigmatize Belshazzar as
far inferior to Nebuchadnezzar is quite in keeping with the
whole tone of the chapter.
This use of weights 41 to denote the value of persons is
known in the Talmudic writings, where we find occasionally
an inferior son of a worthy father called "~ half mina son of
a mina", while a son superior to his father is spoken of as
"a mina son of a half mina'\ and a son equal to his father
as "a mina son of a mina''.
It is possible, according to the theory advanced in my
Thesis 48, that there is an historical backgr01md for this ac-
count of the mysterious sentence, although the whole question
lies purely in the realm of conjecture. The sentence as it
stands may be .an Aramaic rendering of a Babjlonian proverb,
referring to the relative merits of Nebuchadnezzar and the last
king of Babylon whom the Maccabman tradition called Belshaz-
zar. The proyerb must of course have been originally in Baby-
lonian, to which language it can. easily be reduced {see below
philological note). That it appears here in. a rather unusual
form of Aramaic may be a proof of its ancient character.
The sentence may have arisen in Babylonia shortly after the
Persian conquest and passed into the Aramaic of that period
as a popular saying which our author considered appropriate
to his subject and consequ.ently incorporated into his tale of
the fall of Babylon. There is no reason to suppose, because
the writer does not translate the sentence literally in vv. 26-28
Compare Ta'anith 21b, rm:i j:i rm:i l,,"i:,t O"lti j:i l"lltl 1:ot:i" :itiiu
47

: 'O"ltl i:,,
l"lltl l,,"i:,t l"lltl ;:i t"lltl 1:ot:i" l,,i:,ti "It is good that a mina son of
a half- mina come to a mina son of a mina, but not that a mina
son of a mina should come to a mina son of a half -mina", cited by
Levy, Chald. Worterbuch, ii. p. 46. 48 Prince, Mene Mene Teke

Upharsin, pp. 5-17.

Prince, Daniel. 8
114 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

that he did not perfectly understand its meaning. These

verses following v. 25 were evidently intended to · be an ex-
planation of the enigma and not a translation. The author
must have supposed, however, that the words were written
in some unusual way, as he states explicitly in v. 8 that the
wise men could neither read, nor interpret the writing. It
is not impossible that there were traditions evl?n as late as
the Maccab::ean times regarding the ancient Babylonian double
system of writing, e. g. the simple phonetic method, where
the characters represented syllables, and the more complicated
system of ideograms, each of which represented a whole word
or idea. A sentence, therefore, could be written in such a
way as to puzzle the most expert Babylonian scholar.
On the other hand, some of the Talmudists thought that
the words were written according to a cabbalistic alphabet,
in which the first letter has the last as its equivalent 49• It
is interesting to note in this connection that a similar crypto-
graphic method of writing involving the interchange of letters
was known to the Abyssinians 50• It is hardly worth while
to discuss here the idea advanced by some other Talmudists
that the characters of the mysterious sentence were arranged
in a sort of table in three lines and were to be read verti-
cally and not horizontally 51 • Thube and others at the end
49 See Buxtorf, Lexicon Chaldaicum Talmudicum et Rabbinicum,

col. 248, and Levy, Neuhebraisches und Chaldaisches Worterbuch under

r-,!:ii:-ti:-t, 7,1:-t, ?"10•1, j'i:ii:-ti:-t, howewer, is due to a process quite different
to W::l?"li:-t• For the opinion that the sentence was a cryptogram com-
pare Pfeiffer, Dubia Vexata, p. 805, and for all these views see San-
hedrim 22". 60 BA. ii. 110. 61 See Ganneau, JA. Ser. viii. 1, p. 88.

Some considered the sentence as an anagram; see Levy, under l:lll:-t;

while two of the older commentators, Menochius and Maldonatus
thought that only the initial letters of each word were written. They
are quoted by Bertholdt, Daniel, p. 350. Jephet lbn Ali, the Karaite,
held the view that the words were written backward; for example,
i:-tll;J was arranged as if it were l:lll:-t, and that the letters of all the
four words were similarly transposed. See Margoliouth's translation,
p. 26. Pfeiffer, p. 808, expressed the opinion that the words were
written in "Chald;ean" letters which were intricately a1Tanged.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 115
of the last century 52 held that the writing may have ap-
peared in such unusual characters as to prevent its decipher-
ment by the hierogrammatists; and the Gottingen Professor
of Biblical Philology, the late Ernst Bertholdt, suggested that
it may have been written in some complicated flourished
hand writing 5 3 •
It is possible, of course, that the author of Daniel, when
he stated that the writing could not be read by the wise
men, may have been thinking of the Babylonian ideographic
system, or that he may have had in mind some cryptographic
method of writing his O"\\'Il language similar to those just
mentioned. It is much more likely, however, that he gave
little thought to the detail as to how the writing was written.
His aim was simply to describe the appearance of a portent;
a mysteriously worded sentence written in unintelligible char-
acters which conveyed no idea to the spectators until Daniel
showed its application to the situation. The underlying thought
seems to be that the power of Antiochus Epiphanes, like
that of the wicked and sacrilegious Belshazzar, was fast draw-
ing to a close and that the suffering Israelites should soon
be freed from their tyrant.
It is very unlikely that the story of the miraculous appear-
ance of the sentence has any historical background. The
author probably used the legend regarding a feast which took
place just before the capture. of Babylon by the Persians as
a basis for the account in the filth chapter. Thinking that
Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon of the ancient line,
he applied this story to him and added the episode of the
miraculous warning, making use of a proverb perhaps origi-
nally Babylonian and incorporating such further details and
amplifications as were necessary to bring out his moral. Of
these, the profanation of the vessels was, in all likelihood,
suggested by the plundering of the J e:rusalem Temple alluded

0
' Cf. Bertholdt., p. 351. "' Bertholdt, p. 379.
8*
116 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

to I Mace. i., while the account of the miracle is simply a

variation of the warning visions seen by Nebuchadnezzar,
described iu i. and iv.
In vv. 26-28, only one mene is repeated; viz., that mean-
ing "mina", because it was not necessary to repeat the verb
"counted", e. g. the first mene.
25. b) Peres. Thy kingdom is divided and given to
the Mades and Persians. Peres, the singular of parsin, is
used intentionally here, to make a direct paronomasia with
the word for "Persian"; paras. There is clearly a double play
on words here with peres which is interpreted as meaning
"thy kingdom is divided (Aram. p•risath) and given to the
Medes and Persians" (p'rasin).
Ancient history establishes the closest connection between
the Medes and Persians 5 '. The Greeks frequently applied
the common term Medes indifferently to either nation. Thus
the conflicts with Darius and his successors were called either
1:a M11oixa or 1:a IIe,iaixa, while the Persian Great King who
ruled in Susa was addressed as the "King of the Medes 55 •
The Jews also, as is well known, regarded the Medes and
Persians as two peoples closely allied in law and customs 5 6
and indeed, p:reyious to the discovery of the cuneiform in-
scriptions, no one thought of doubting that the Medes as well
as the Persians belonged to the Aryan pce 57 • Of late years,
however, serious doubt has been cast on the theory regarding
the Aryan origin of the Medes by a number of scholars.
Because in the trilingual inscriptions of the Achremenian
kings, between the original Persian and the Babyloni!il} trans-
lation, another idiom appears, taking precedence over the
Babylonian, certain scholars haye believed this to be the

54 05
For the history of the Medes, see above pp. 50 ff. Cf. Raw-
linson, Five Great Monarchies ii. p. 306, n. l.; Delattre, Medes, p. 5.
5 • Cf. Dan. vi. 8; 12; 15; viii. 20; Esther i. 3; 14; x. 2. •7 It is
especially stated by Strabo, xv. 2; 8, that both the Medes and Persians
used practically the same language.
 UHAL'TEll FlF'l'H. 117

language ?f Media. This dialect of the second sort which

was given such a prominent place in the royal inscriptions
must be, it was thought, the idiom of the most impmtant
subject people of the Persian Empire, the Babylonian being
necessarily excluded. They decided accordingly that it could
only be the language of the Medes. Then, when an exam-
ination brought to light that it was neither a Semitic nor an
Aryan idiom, they concluded that the Medes must have been
a "Turanian'' people. The principle on which such a sup-
position rested is, that the choice and disposition of language
in the Achremenian texts depended on the relative impor-
tance of the peoples who made up the Persian Empire.
Although it would certainly be natural that the Persian
kings should in their trilingual documents give _the idiom of
the most important subject-state the precedence, it still docs
not necessarily follow that the second language in these in-
scriptions is that of Media. It cannot of course be denied
that the Medes enjoyed a special prominen9e in the empire.
Indeed, the place which they occupied in the inscriptions next
to the Persians, and the fact that Medes are found in the
most important and responsible positions seem to point to
such a conclusion 58• Part of their powerful influence may
have been due to the sacerdotal caste of the Magi who were
probably originally of Median origin. The very fact that the
name Mede survived so long as almost a synonym for Persian,
certainly seems to show that the individuality of the older
people was extremely prominent throughout a long period of
the Persian history. Delattre's remark (Medes, p. 18) that
these considerations are somewhat weakened by the statement
of the Annals 2. 1-4 that Cyrus plundered Ecbatana the
Median capital, like an enemy's city, has no special force.
Because the Medes by their superior civilization eventually
68 Cf. Her. i. 156-157; Mazares, a Mede, quelled the revolt of

Sardis against Cyrus; i. 162-176, Harpagus, a Mede, carried on the

war, etc.
118 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

exercised a strong influence on the Persian people, it does not

necessarily follow that Cyrus, probably the first Persian who
came into close contact with Median culture, established directly
such friendly relations with the conquered people as to ab-
stain from plundering their capital, which had fallen to him
by right of war.
The influences of this Median culture, however, probably
began to be felt by the rougher Persians very shortly after
their subjugation of the Medes. Indeed, it seems very evident
that those friendly relations between the two peoples, which
lasted with but few interruptions until the Median name dis-
appears from history, were early founded.
While the strong influence of the Medes on the destinies of
the Persian empire seems to have been an established fact, the
actual province of Media was still very probably not the most
important in the empire. Media alone was not even a distinct
province, but according to Herodotus, 3. 92, with two neigh-
bouring countries formed a single satrapy, paying annual tribute.
It is contrary 'to the consensus of the ancient authors, as
shown above, to regard the Medes as anything but Aryans
and closely allied to the Persians. The statement of Strabo
that both Medes and Persians used nearly the same language
is confirmed by an examination of the extant Median proper
names, nearly all of which are of marked Aryan charactcr 59 •
From the nature of these names Meyer concludes quite rightly
that the rulers of Media at the ?nd of the eighth century
B. C. were of Aryan race.
With regard to the opinion that the Medcs were made up
of two elements, "Aryan'' and "Turanian", I cannot do better
than paraphrase as follows the remarks of W eishach (pp. 21 ft:).
According to him, if this theory be accepted, four possibilities
present themselves with regard to the language of the Mcdes.
•• Her. iii. 444-455 (Rawlinson'); also Ed. Meyer, on the names of
tbe Median chiefs cited in Delit~sch' Kossreans, p. 48; Literaturblatt
fiir Or. Philologie (Kuhn) ii. p. 51.
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 119

A. All Medes spoke Aryan.

]3. All Medes spoke an Aryan-Turanian mixed language.
C. All Mcdes spoke "Turanian".
D. The Aryan Medes spoke Aryan, the "Turanians" spoke
"Turanian".
In answer to the first two suppositions, it may be stated,
that the language of the inscriptions of the second sort is
clearly neither Aryan, nor a mixed idiom, for example, like
modern Turkish, while the theory that all Medes spoke "Tur-
anian" is made untenable by the statements, referred to a-
bove, of the ancient authors who evidently regarded the Median
language as Aryan. The fact, too, that the Mcdes played
such an important part in Persian history, and were for such
a long time so closely and prominently connected with the
latter people, could hardly have been the case had they been
a totally distinct "Turanian" race. In the latter instance, while
considerable influence might have been exercised by an en-
tirely alien people, such a complete association and identifica-
tion of interests as appear between the Medes and Persians
could hardly have been expected. The tie of a common language
must have been present to establish such a close union. As
to the last idea, that part of the Mcdes spoke A1yan and part
"Turanian'', even if this were so, we would have no right to call
the language of the "Tnranian" Medes, "Median", as this term
was applied by custom to an Aryan speech. To do so, would
give rise to a confusion of names similar to that suggested
by W eisbach (p. 22). He asserts quite rightly, that to call a
"Turanian" language "Median'' would be an error like calling
the language of the Germans resident in Bohemia, "Bohemian",
a term which is only applied to the idiom of the Czechs; the
true Boheinians. In addition to this, however, there is no
reason for supposing that the language of the Achremenian in-
scriptions of the second sort is that of "Turanian" Medes at all.
If, as seems necccssary, the Medes · must be regarded as
entirely Aryans, to what people then are the non-Aryan non-
120 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

Semitic Achremcnian inscriptions of the second sort to be

ascribed? Here M. Delattre seems to have found the key to
the solution of the problem.
He advances the theory that, because according to Oppe1-t
and Sayce the so-called "Median" of the Achremcnian inscrip-
tions has · affinity with the Elamitic or Susian language, the
people who used the doubtful idiom of the Persian documents
were of Elamitic race. As a number of Persian loan-words,
are found in the Achmmenian dialect, he further concluded
that the people who spoke it must have been for some time
closely connected with Persian influences. The fulfillment of
both these conditions he finds in the natives of Ansan, the
hereditary state of Cyrus; i. e. he believes that the second
Achmmenian language was the Elamitic dialect of Ansan, a
theory which certainly deserves consideration, in that the
language of Ansan, as the vernacular of the nucleus of the
Persian empire, might have ranked directly after Persian and
taken the precedence of Babylonian.
As our knowledge of the language of Old Elam, however,
does not yet permit a translation of the cuneiform inscriptions
in that tongue, it seems impossible at present to make any
definite statement concerning Elamitic dialects. Then, too,
the fact that the Achremenian second language and the Elam-
itic are quite distinct though evidently allied languages height-
ens the difficulty. In this connection, however, the great
difference in tinie between the Achmmenian inscriptions of
the second sort and the ancient documents of Susiana or Elam
must not be forgotten. Sayce has found that the inscriptions
of Old Elam are to be divided into two groups - the one
v,,-ritten in characters closely allied to the Old Babylonian,
while the second kind, the inscriptions of Mal-Amir present
a later form which is closely akin to that of the Achremenian
records of the second sort. According to W eisbach, it is
possible to demonstrate by a number of examples that this
form of the Achremenian inscriptions, originally derived from
 CHAPTER FU"fH. 121

the Babylonian characters, is a later development from the

form fmmd on the monuments of Mal-Amir. Weisbach refers
in this connection to the list of characters given by Sayce in
the Transactions of the Sixth International Oriental Congress.
All that can be asserted at present seems to be that the
three great languages of the Persian empire were Persian, the
idiom of the second sort, and Babylonian. The second lang-
uage may be a later form of the old Elamitic or Susian, con-
taining a number of Aryan loan-words obtained through long
intercourse v;ith Aryan races; i. e. the Mcdes and Persians
This is practically the opinion of ,Veisbach who calls the doubt-
fol Achaimenian dialect "New Susian" and remarks that this
idea agrees excellently with the order in which we find the
three idioms in the documents .of the Persian Kings, - first,
language of Persia; second, that of Susa or Elam, and third,
that of Babylonia. As soon as it. appears evident that the
Achramenian inscriptions of the second sort need not neces-
sarily be in the_ language of the Medes, the Aryan race of
the latter, in view of the reasons mentioned above, should
not be called in question.
In the twenty-eighth verse of the fifth chapter of Daniel
the paronomasia on "Persian'' may perhaps indicate that the
author was not una,~are of the dominant position of that
people. The idea advanced by Lengerke that he used a play
of words on Persian, because he could not pun on the word
Mede, is untenable, because a derivative of the stem "to meas-
ure" 60, would have answered the purpose admirably. With
regard to the question of the precedence accorded by the
biblical writer to the older people, it is interesting to notice
that the earlier references use the term Medes for both nations.
Thus, in Isaiah xiii. 17, in prophesying the doom of Babylon,
it is stated, "behold I "ill stir up the Medes against them",
etc., and in Jeremiah li. 11, referring to the same subject, "the
Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes".
60 "1"1r.i. A derivative like n;1,;:, cf. Kranichfeld, p. 227.
 122 CRlTICAL COMMEN'fARY.

Throughout the entire book of Daniel, wherever both nations

are mentioned, the Medes have the first place, while in the
book of Esther, Persia is put before Media, except in chapter
x. 2, where an allusion is made to the book of the chronicles
of Media and Persia, - perhaps an old record.
The explanation of the gradual decadence of the Median
name seems to be, that as the Medes in the course of time
amalgamated and became practically identical with their Per-
sian kinsmen, the name Persian came to be used in place of
Mede. In fact the latter name seems to have completely dis-
appeared under the Sassanidre. It was perfectly natural that
two closely allied peoples speaking practically the same lang-
uage and probably intermixing, should end by becoming one,
and that the name of the dominant race should prevail.
29. And they clothed Daniel with scarlet. It is possible
to translate, "Belshazzar gave orders and they clothed Daniel,
etc.", which would mean that the reward was conferred im-
mediately, or, "Belshazzar gave orders to clothe Daniel", which
does not necessarily imply that the commands were carried
out, but that the death of the king may have prevented the
fulfillment of the promise. In view of the frequent co-ordi-
nation of sentences in cases where the subordinate character of
one clause is apparent, the latter translation seems preferable.
30. In that night was Belshazzar the King of the Chal-
dreans slain. For the historical value of this statement, see
above p. 103.
31. a) And Darius the Median took the Kingdom. For
full discussion, see above pp. 44 ff. This verse is incorporated
wrongiy with C. vi in M. and LXX.
31. b) About three score and two years old. LXX.
translate here "full of days and famous in old age", evidently
from quite a different original text 61• The king's age was
given probably in order to indicate the brief duration of the
· Median power 62•
•
1
Cf. Behrmann, p. 108. •
2
See Kamphausen, p. 29.
 CHAPTEH SIXTH. 123

CHAPTER SIXTH.
The resemblance between this section and C. iii. has already
been pointed out (p. 73). The author's aim here, as in iii.,
is plainly to emphasize the necessity of a strict observance
of the worship of Jhvh, in spite of the commands or decrees
of any heathen monarch. In vi., however, the writer has gone
a step further than in iii., where t~e Hebrew friends of Daniel
were merely required to honour an idol, but not necessarily
to abstain from worshipping Jhvh privately. In vi., on the
other hand, the royal decree goes forth that no petition shall
be addressed during a given period to any being, god or man,
save the king, so that even private prayer would be forbidden,
by such a command. There can be little doubt that this
extraordinary account is simply a bold literary device to re-
present the hero D_aniel in a situation where he must wor-
ship the God of his fathers at great danger to himsel£ Both
iii. and vi. are tracts, highly appropriate to the time of Anti-
ochus Epiphancs, on the beauty and necessity of faithfulness
to Jhvh who never fails to protect His own.
It is highly improbable that there is any historical basis
for the account of C. vi., and it is almost useless even to
attempt to conjecture, as can be done to a certain extent in
C. iii., regarding the sources of the fundamental traditional
elements. It has already been shown above that Darius the
Mede has no place in history, and, while it is possible that
the extraordinary decree demanding practically divine honours
for the king may have been suggested by the author's know-
ledge that the ancient kings of Persia were treated as re-
presentatives of the gods, it is very difficult to assert more
than this.
The sixth chapter should be divided into four paragraphs,
as follows: - The decree, 1-9; Daniel's punishment, 10-17;
his miraculous deliverance and the punishment of his enemies,
18-24; the king's recognition of Jhvh's power, 25-28.
 124 URl'l'ICAL COMMENTARY.

1. An hundred and twenty princes. Better "satrap8".

For full discussion of this statement, see above p. 54.
6. Assembled together. Literally "made a tumult"; hence,
"swarmed tumultuously before the king". This vivid ex-
pression was undoubtedly chosen to show the. violent character
of DanieFs enemies who had lost all sense of dignity in their
unrighteous desire to overthrow the Prophet.
7. a) All ,the presidents of the kingdom. With the ex-
ception, of course, of Daniel who was one of them (v. 2). Tlw
inaccurate statement is not a contradiction of v. 2, but is
simply a result of the hurried style. The idea is that all of
the Persian officials Wished that the prohibitory decree should
be issued.
7. b) That whosoever shall ask a petition, etc. Tha:t
such a decree could ever have been issued even by a king
claiming divine honours is most unlikely.. The most that such
a monarch could hope to effect would be to compel his sub-
jects to include him in their pantheon. He could never have
ventured to interdict the simultaneous worship of other divine
beings, simply because of the obvious impossibility of enfor-
cing such an order.
7. c) The den of lions. Better: "pit• oflions". This seems
to be a reference to the practice of the later Assyrian and
Babylonian kings of keeping lions in preserves for the chase 1•
Such a pit as is described here, however, which could ap-
' parently be closed from above like a cistern by· a stone, very
likely existed only in the author's imagination, as no animals
could have lived in it for any length of time. The wild ani-
mals for the royal hunt, lions, tigers, wild boars, antelopes,
etc. were generally kept in extensive parks constructed especi-
ally for the purpose and carefully fenced in 2 • These parks
were kept in excellent repair and extended by the later Per-

1
See Kaulen, Assyrien u. Babylonien, fig. 17, representing a lion-
bunt. 2
Cf. Layard, Nineveh ii. 431.
 CHAPTER SIXTH. 125

smn kings, all of ;horn were extremely fond of the chaEe.

The Persians called such enclosures "paradises". Occasion-
ally, the lions were kept in portable cages which, when the
king ,vishcd to hunt, were brought out into the open, where
the animals were released by a slave who raised a gate while
standing on top of the cage.
8. Establish the decree and sign the writing. This
should be translated "cause the writing to be written", c. g.
the document which set forth the interdict. So v. 10 "the
writing nncl the interdict"; cf. Jer. xxxvi. 27 "the roll and the
words"; also, Dan. iv. 10 "a watcher and an holy one", in all
0£ which passages the "and" serves to connect synonyms.
10. a) Now when Daniel knew, etc. The author mak,es
Daniel deliberately disregard the blasphemous decree, in order
to impress upon his readers the necessity of resisting all such
attempts to encroach on or forbid the worship of Jhvh.
10. b) His windows being open in his chamber. Liter-
ally "his upper room". The ,vindows were probably lattices
such as are in common use at the present day in the East;
cf. 2 Kings i. 2. That they could be drawn aside may be
seen from 2 Kings xiii. 17. The author mentions the fact of
the windows being open, in order to explain how the offici-
als discovered the Prophet's disobedience.
10. c) Towards Jerusalem. The custom of facing Jerusa-
lem while praying very probably originated at the time of
thP Babylonian (~xile. The idea, which was also followed by
Mohammed until he quarreled with the Jews, was to face the
Temple, the centre of the Jewish religious life (see 1 Kings
viii. 38; 44; 48). The orientation of many Christian churches
and the eastward position, frequently observed during certain
parts of the service, are survivals of this early Jewish custom.
10. d) Kneeled upon his knees. Sec 1 Kings viii. 54.
The prostrate posture in prayer was also observed, Neh. viii. 6,
while in G(m. xxiv. 26, bowing the head is mentimwd as a
reve1·ent position fin- worship.
126 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

10. e) Three times a day. According to the Jewish tra-

ditions the custom of praying thrice during the day originated
at the time of the <(Great Synagogue" 3• It is evident from
the N. T. that the early Christians used the same practice;
cf. Acts x. 9. It is difficult to known, however, just when this
custom began. It is alluded to in 1P Iv. 18, which probably
dates from the time of Jeremiah, and it may have been bor-
rowed from the Persians during the Babylonian exile.
10. f) As he did aforetime. Better "inasmuch as he had
been wont to do so aforetime". He deliberately disobeyed
the decree, because it interfered with his regular pious custom.
11. Then these men assembled. Literally ((came together
tumultuousl):'', as in v. 7; probably beneath Daniel's open win-
dow, where they could see him at his devotions.
12. Hast thou not signed a decree? Better "caused to
be written an interdict?" This abrupt address to the king
without any preliminary respectful form is introduced pur-
posely to emphasize the violent passion of the officials against
Daniel (Uld their evident use of the king as a mere tool.
LXX. insert the words "0 king Darius"; 0 "0 king", but
no emendation of the sort is necessary.
15. Know O king, etc. This is an impudent reminder to
the king that he is powerless before his own law.
16. Thy God .... He will deliver thee. The king says
this to Daniel with affectionate solicitude. The author re-
garded him merely as an instrument in the hands of his
wicked courtiers.
17. a) The mouth of the den. See above, p. 124 on v. 7.
17. b) The king sealed it with his own signet. Every
Babylonian of any importance at all carried a seal, generally
in the shape of a cylinder, the most ancient form, which was
used to stamp their baked-clay documents of all kinds. This
almost universal custom was noticed by Herodotus i. 195. In

3
Zunz, Die Gottesdienstlichen Vertrage; pp. 33; 3Gfi.
 ' CHAPTER SIXTH. 127
cases where a man was too poor to own a seal he made an
impression on the damp clay with his thumb. That seals in
various forms were used also by the Persians is proved by
the existence of many specimens dating from the Sassanian
period 4 • Whether the author of Daniel clearly understood
the character of a seal which would have been used by a
Persian Babylonian king is doubtful. The word which he
employs here makes it seem probable that he was thinking
of a seal-ring.
18. Instruments of music is probably a wrong translation.
It should be "concubines" 5 •
24:- 28. The fate of the slanderers of Daniel is the same
swift punishment from Jhvh which overtook Belshazzar and
which must sooner or later overtake every blasphemer and
opponent of Israel's God. The decree of Darius in vv. 25-28
is the parallel of the proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar in iii.
29 after the miraculous deliverance of the three companions
from the furnace. The difference is that in iii. 29 N ebuchad-
nezzar threatens those who refuse to worship Jhvh, while in
vi. 25, Darius contents himself with simply commanding his
subjects to honour the God ofDanicl. Most of the sentences
used here have appeared in the earlier chapters.
28. In the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus
the Persian. This shows conclusively that the author of
Daniel had an entirely false idea regarding the fall of Baby-
lon under the Semitic dynasty. He evidently thought that
Darius the Mede preceded Cyrus the Persian 6 •

11 Ancient West-Asian seals are found in cylindrical, conical, circular

and rectangular form; cf. Ward, Seal cylinders and other Oriental
seals (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Handbook 12}. • See
below; philological note. • See above, p. 54.
128 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

CHAPTER SEVENTH.
The seventh chapter begins the second part of the Book,
in which the author endeavours to console his readers by
means of prophetic visions supposed to have been revealed
to ·Daniel directly, but all having a direct reference to the
Maccabrean period. Th(~ similarity between the subject matter
of C. vii and that of C. ii has already been mentioned above
(pp. 9; G4). As both chapters, however, were not written from
precisely the same point of view, there are of course some
noticeable differences in the treatment of the four empires.
These are due merely to the fact that C. ii was written from
the historical and C. vii from the apocalyptical point of view.
Indeed, the differences between ii. and vii. are those which
exist naturally between the first and second part of the Book.
In the first six chapters, the author makes all the visions,
portents and warJ?-ffigs appear to a heathen monarch who is .
compelled to turn to the Prophet of Jhvh .for a correct inter-
pretation. The narrative is all in the third person. In the
last six chapters, on the other hand, the visions are seen by
the Prophet of Jhvh himself who is made to relate them in
the first person. The chief point of C. vii is, of comse, the
rise and overthrow of the "Little Horn" Antiochus Epiphanes,
who is represented as the last king of the fourth empire and
the bitter enemy of the saints. The author has evidently
borrowed extensively from the imagery in Ezekiel, Zechariah
and Isaiah, especially in the case of the figurative animals and
in his description of the Divine Court of Justice.
There is absolutely no foundation for the theory of Lagarde
that this chapter was composed as late as 69 A. D. 1•
The seventh chapter should be divided into four paragraphs,
as follows: - The heading, 1; the vision of the four beasts,

1 nGA. 1891 pp. 497-520.

 CHAPTER SEVEN'fH. 129
2-8; the appearance of the Ancient of Days, 9-14; the ex-
planation, 15-27; the conclusion, 28.
1. a) In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon.
The theory has been advanced that this date and that of
C. viii. may refer to the reign of Bclshazzar as co-regent, but
all the allusions to this king in Daniel show that the author
considered him to have reigned independently as the son of
Nebuchadnezzar (see above, pp. 40 ff.).
These ..visions of the second part of Daniel were not intended
to continue the narTatives, so the author drops the chronological
order in his dates.
1. b) Daniel had a dream. As in C. x., the author begins
in the third person after the style of the naITative sections,
but inrmediately makes Daniel speak in the first person (v. 2).
Cc. vii. ff. arc supposed to be the personal diary which Daniel
wrote, recording his visions at this period. The statement
that Daniel wrote the dreams and vision is made only here,
but is undoubtedly understood of all the other visions.
1. c) Visions of his head. See on ii. 28, p. 68.'
2. a) The four winds of the heaven. All the winds blow
together and create an indescribable turmoil which· lashes up
the sea and pe~etrates to the unknown depths, from which
emerge four monsters, corresponding in number to the winds.
Rev. xiii. 1 is evidently an imitation of this passage. The
four winds, of course, represent the four quarters of the heaven;
cf. viii. 8; Zech. vi. 5, etc.
2. b) The great sea is ordinarily an expression for the
Mediterranean, but is undoubtedly used here typically for the
world (see v. 17). We find a similar metaphor in Is. xvii. 12,
where the armies of Sennacherib are referted to as making a
noise like the rushing of the sea.
3. Diverse one from another. Because they are symbols
of totally distinct empires. The Prophet sees the beasts ap-
pear above the surface of the troubled sea. They do not of
course come on the land, because the sea in the vision is the
Prince, Daniel. 9
130 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

type of the whole world. The author may have got the idea
of beasts as symbols for empires from the similar usage in
Ezek. i. ; Zech. i.; also in Is. xxvii. 1 ; Ez. xxix. 3 of the
crocodile, and in Is. li. 9 of the hippopotamus 2, as types of
the power of Egypt.
4:. a) The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings.
C£ Ezek. i. 10 ff. This is a very appropriate symbol for the
Babylonian power of Nebuchadnezzar. The winged man-faced
lion is now familiar to us as the type of strength mQst affect-
ed by the Assyrian kings 3 • It is probable, however, that
the author of Daniel knew nothing of this, but constructed
his composite symbol on the analogy of Jer. iv. 7; xlix.19;
I. 17, where Nebuchadnezzar is compared to a lion, and Jer.
xli.x. 22; Hab. i. 8, where the army of the great king is likened
to an eagle, evidently because of his extraordinarily swift
marches. The Babylonian being the first and least evil power
is represented by the best of the beasts of prey, just as it is
symbolized by the noblest metal in the parallel vision in C. ii.
4. b) I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, etc.
The Prophet looked until he saw the wings, the emblems of
the brutal swiftness which enabled it to dart down on its prey,
taken from the Babylonian lion, and "it was lifted up from the
ground and made to stand upon the feet as a man", e. g. made
to stand erect like a man; "and a man's heart was given to
it", i. e. it received a higher, gentler and more human intelligence >;
in the person of its last great king Nebuchadnezzar. This
obscure symbolism seems to cover a reference to the punish-
ment of Nebuchadnezzar recorded in C. iv 4 • Some expositors 5
ignore this comparatively favourable reference to the Babylo-
nian power, overlooking the fact that the author clearly wishes
2 Wrongly translated "Dragon" in the A. V. The same word is used

in Heb. in all the passages above cited, but the translation "hippo-
potamus" is probable in Is. Ii. 9. • For illustration, see La.yard's
1
Nineveh, i. p. 70. See above pp. 6; 70 ff. for the four empires. So,
for example, Giesebrecht, GGA. 1895 p. 598, ' 'fhus v. Lengerke,
Kamphausen and others.
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. , 131
to emphasize the contrast between the earlier heathen empires
and the abominable developement seen in the fourth beast,
from which sprang the terrible "Little Horn" of his own time.
Nebuchadnezzar's rule is the best of all and is therefore re-
presented by the most attractive symbol 6•
5, Another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised
up itself 7 on one side, etc. This is the second empire, that
of the Medes, which is represented by a bear in a crouching
attitude, in order to show that although this people was fierce
and mighty, their power never equalled that of the Babylonians.
Havernick thought that this indicated the bear's position of
attack, while v. Lengerke understood it to mean that the bear
was sitting down in idle sloth. Neither supposition is satis-
factory, because they both ignore the element of comparison
between the beasts. The Median bear does not stand erect
like the Babylonian lion. It had no human intelligence, but
was simply a beast of prey "with three ribs in the mouth of
it, between the teeth of it". This last expression is very obscure
and it seems impossible to interpret it with certainty. It prob-
ably refers, however, to the conquests by the Medcs of other
nations. Their capture and devastation of Nineveh in 606 B. C. 8
would naturally have given them a reputation as a great con-
quering people, even after the lapse of centuries had obscured
the exact nature of their victories. The expression "three" is
probably only a round number 9 used to show that they had
destroyed several great enemies. There can be no doubt that
the author regarded the Medes as a destroying people, because
he· adds here the words "and they said thus unto it, Arise,
devour much :flesh" 10 • "They" must refer to soine angelic voices
6 See on ii. 37 ff. 7
See below, philological note. • See above
p. 52. 9 So v. Lengerke. Some critics refer this to three special
countries or cities, but this is very doubtful. Not less so are the
conjectures of Behrmann, p. 44, who unnecessarily finds glosses in the
text; cf. Kamphausen, pp. 30-31. • 1 ° Cf. in this connection the
passages prophesying the overthrow of Babylon by the Medes: Is.
xiii 17; Jer. li. 11; 28.
9*
132 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

which Daniel heard sounding over the waters, commanding the

bear to fulfill its functions.
This whole passage referring to the Medes is clearly based
on the author's idea that they conquered and reigned in
Babylon before the Persians which, as sho"rn above p. 53, may
be the result of a confusion of traditions regarding the fall
of Nineveh at the hands of the Medes and the capture of
Babylon by Cyrus.
6. And behold another like a leopard, etc. The four-
headed four-winged leopard is the Persian empire, of which
the author mentions only fo!1r kings (xi. 2) who are evidently
symbolized by the four heads, and whose power extended to
the four quarters of the heaven represented by the four wings
(cf. viii. 4). The Babylonian lion also had wings as a symbol of
his swift and far-reaching conquests, but the Persian leopard
has a greater number, because his conquests were more exten-
sive. A similar symbolism regarding the Persian power appears
in Her. i. 209, where it is stated that Cyrus has a vision, in
which he sees Darius Hystaspes with wings on his shoulders.
One of these pinions overshadowed Asia and the other Europe.
7. a) A fourth beast dreadful and terrible, etc. This
fourth beast is, of course, the most important, as it represents
the Greek empire in Asia which began with Alexander the
Great and continued under the Seleucides. Western historians
are accustomed to regard the Asiatic conquests of Alexander
as having been civilizing influences which to a great extent
brought enlightenment and Greek culture into the far East.
While this is undoubtedly true, it must be remembered that
for this very reason the victories of Alexander were regarded
from an Oriental point of view as a tremendous calamity, because,
unlike the other great conquerors, he was not willing to leave
the subjugated peoples in their former barbarism, but effected
great changes both in custo:tns and government throughout the
entire East. His rnle, therefore, is appropriately said to be
<live;·sc from all kingdoms; v. 24. Besides this, neither he nor
 CHAPTER SEVl<:N'l'H. 133
his successors shrank from the most terrible atrocities whenever
it was nece~sary to quell a rebellion. This may be seen from
the fearful Tyrian massacres by the troops of Alexander
himself, and in later times from the terrible persecutions of
the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes. The comparison, there-
fore, of the entire Greek power to a devouring beast with great
iron teeth 11 which tore and killed and "stamped the residue
under its feet" is most appropriate.
7. p) And it had ten horns. Horns are symbols of haughty
power, cf. 'P lxxv. 5; Am. vi. 13. As is expressly stated
in v. 24, the ten horns are ten kings and not ten empires or
kingdoms, as some expositors have supposed 12• There is a
great variety of opinions regarding the interpretation of the
ten horns 13 • There can be little doubt, however, that if, as
is generally admitted by recent writers, they are symbols of
ten Greco-Syrian kings, excluding Antiochus Epiphanes who
is the eleventh Little Horn, the list must begin with Alexander.
Although it is stated in v. 8, that the Little Horn came up
among the other horns, there can be no doubt that the author
intended to convey the idea that the ten horns were predecessors
of the Little Horn, because in v. 24 he makes the Little Horn
follow the other ten. The question to be settled then is :
Who are these ten predecessors of Antiochus Epiphanes? An
examination of the list of Seleucidan kings will show that they
can only be a: 1. Alexander the Great, 356-323 B. C.;
2. Seleucus I. Nicator, 312-280; 3. Antiochus I. Soter, 280-261;
4. Antiochus II. Theos., 261-246; 5. Seleucus II. Callinicus,
246-226; 6. Seleucus Ill. Soter, 226-223; 7. Antioch us ill.
Magnus, 223-187; 8. Seleucus IV. Philopator, 187-175;
11 V. 19 adds "claws of brass" which Ewald needlessly proposed to

insert here. See Bevan, p. 122. " So Aben Ezra, for example, who
thought that they symbolized ten Mohammedan kingdoms. 13 Bevan,

p. 115; Behrmann, p. 46. u So Hitzig and Cornill. Behrmann, p. 46,

considers that the ten horns do not designate especially any Syrian
kings, but are merely a general allusion to all the divided Greek princes
as a race.
134 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

9. Heliodorus, the treacherous minister of Seleucus IV. who

tried to usurp the throne in 17 5, after murdering his master,
but was soon dispossessed by Antiochus Epiphanes, the brother
of Seleucus Philopator; 10. Demetrius Soter, who was really
the rightful heir to the throne, as he was the eldest son of
Seleucus Philopator. For this reason the author of Daniel
makes him a predecessor of Antiochus Epiphanes. Demetrius
eventually reigned 162-150, after the death of the feeble
Antiochus V. Eupator, 164-162, the son of Antiochus Epi-
phanes.
8. a) There came in among them another little horn. As
mentioned above, this king comes after the ten. In viii. 8,
on the other hand, the Little Horn rises out of one of the
"larger horns. Antiochus Epiphanes is a Little Horn, because,
as he was not the rightful successor to the throne, he was
not recognized as king at first, but seized that position by
treachery to his nephew Demetrius.
The conservative critics who deny that the Little Horn here
is Antiochus Epiphanes, but admit that he is the Little Horn
of viii. 9 have simply introduced a useless contradiction into
the Book. There can be · no doubt that vii. 8 and viii. 9
refer to one and the same person.
8. b) Before whom were three of the first horns plucked
up by the roots, e. g. three kings (v. 24). These must· be:
1. Seleueus Philopator who was probably murdered by Hel-
iodorus 15 ; 2. the usurping Heliodorus himself; 3. Demetrius,
afterwards Demetrius Soter, all of whom had to give way
before Antiochus Epiphanes 16• Von Gutschmid 17, however,
thinks that the third horn may have been a brother of Deme-
trius who, according to a fragment of John of Antioch, was
slain by order of Antiochus. This is not probable, because
this brother would not suit the situation so well among the
15
App. Syr. 45. So Hitzig and Cornill. For other views, see
18

Bevan, p. 117. 11 Kleine Schriften, ii. pp. 175-179, quoted also

Bevan, p. 118.
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. 135
ten horns 0£ v. 7, as he was not the rightful heir like Deme-
trius and could, therefore, hardly be ranked among reigning
kings. Demetrius was 0£ course king de jiire immediately
after the death 0£ his father Seleucus Philopator, and so might
se1Te ·as one 0£ the horns. Heliodorus, on the other hand,
although not actually a king, had been head of the state £or
a short time until deposed by Antiochus Epiphanes and could
therefore with propriety be classed as a horn.
There is undoubtedly a covert hint here that Antiochus
had something to do with the death 0£ his brother Seleucus.
This theory has never been historically proved, but, considering
the character 0£ Antiochus, it is by no means an improbable
supposition that he was in league with Heliodorus who,
pretending to aid Antiochus, was really trying to usurp the
throne for himself. At any rate, the Jewish author would not
shrink from accusing Antiochus 0£ such a crime against his
brother, even if it were not definitely proved.
8. c) Eyes like the eyes of man, e. g. two human eyes,
the symbols 0£ intelligence 18, of which Antiochus Epiphanes
had an unusual share. This is admitted even by the author
0£ Daniel; see viii. 23 "a king understanding dark sentences",
e. g. deep and intricate intrigues.
8. d) A mouth speaking great things. C£. vv. 11 ;. 25;
1P xii. 3 and Rev. xiii. 5, ~he latter being plainly an imitation
of this passage in Daniel. This undoubtedly refers to the
blasphemies against Jhvh uttered and practised by A ntiochus
Epiphanes; c£. xi. 36.
9. a) I beheld till the thrones were cast down. This
should be "till the thrones were placed" 19 • The reference
seems to be ~ the thrones for the angelic judges 0£ these
empires which are to be summoned to trial before the divine
court. A special throne 0£ flame is appropriately reserved
£or the Greatest Judge.

18
Cf. Rev. ix. 7. 19
See below, philological note.
136 CRl'fICAL COMMENTARY.

9, b) And the Ancient of Days did sit. Cf. ifi ix. 4.

Jhvh is here represented as an aged man, both on account
of His character as the Supreme Judge and also in contrast
to the "new gods" of the heathen whose worship .Antiochus
Epiphanes was trying to introduce among the Israelites; cf.
Ju. v. 8; Jer. xxiii. 2?.
9. c) White as snow . . . . . . . . pure wool. Snow and
wool appear as symbols of purity also in Is. i. 18; ifi li. 7.
9. d) And his throne was like the fiery flame, See ifi
xviii. 9.
9, e) And his (scl. its) wheels as burning fire. .A wheeled
throne, a sort of Divine Chariot, was probably suggested by
Ezek. x. 2; cf. also i. 15; 16. -
10. a) A fiery stream. For the old Hebrew id~a of fire
being intimately connected with the person of th6' Supreme
Being, cf. 1/i 1. 3; xcvii. 3 ; Is. lxvi. 15; 16. This conception
is probably a relic of an earlier sun and fire worship;
10. b) Thousand thousand ministered unto Him. Count-
less hosts of angels surrounded and served the Most High;
see above, p. 86.
10. c) And the judgment was set and the books opened.
The Judges took their seats and the books of record were
opened, in which the sins of the Greek kings and especially
those of .Antiochus Epiphanes had all been duly entered.
Bevan cites an interesting passage from the pre-Mohammedan
poet Zuhair (p. 123, n. 1.), showing that this idea of divine
books of record was known also to the early .Arabs: "Hide
not from God that which ye devise . . . . it is reserved, laid
up in writing and kept in store against the day of reckoning''.
11. Because of the voice of the great words which the
horn spake, etc. The beast representing the Greek empire
is slain and even its remains are utterly destroyed on account
of the blasphemies of .Antiochus Epiphanes (v. 8).
12. a) They had their dominion taken away. Better
"their dominion had been taken away", e. g. the Babylonian,
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. 137
Median and Persian empires had ceased to exist politically,
but the people of these countries were not destroyed at once
(v. 12), but were permitted to exist for a time, appare~tly in
order that they might serve the Son of Man (v. 14), e. g. the
kingdom of the lsraelitish Saints. Herein is the chief difference
between vii. and ii~ for in ii. 34-35; 44, all the empires arc
destroyed 20• In vii., the fourth kingdom only is doomed to
perish.
Behrmann's idea (p. 47) that the expression "the rest of the
beasts" does not refer to the three first beasts in vv. 4; 5; 6,
but is an indefinite symbolism for the various other kings of
Greek descent, introduces a needless conf~sion,into the inter-
pretation. The author referred first to the overthrow of the
fourth beast, because it was the most important from his point
of view and then tells the fate of the three preceding peoples
whose sins had not been as great and shocking as those of
the Greek race.
12. b) For a season and a time." The period of the exist-
ence of these nations is purposely made indefinite, because
the author does not pretend to know more tqan that they
shall serve and be humbled before the kingdom of the saints.
13-14. One like the Son of Man. This ~xpression simply
means "one like a human being''; cf. viii. 17, where it is applied
to Daniel himself. In iii. 25 the parrallel expression "Son of
God" means a heavenly being 21 • "Son of Man'' seems to be
used here as a symbol for the last kingdom of the Israelitish
Saints which shall rule over "all peoples, nations and races"
after .the overthrow of the governments typified by the four
beasts. The author evidently intended t-0 draw a contrast
between the earlier cruel, bestial kingdoms which arose "out of
the sea", v. 3, e. g. from this world, and the final human kingdom
of the saints which had its origin in the clouds of heaven
(e. g. by divine appointment), and which was established to
'
20
See above, pp. 69; 71. 21 Cf. p. 81.
138 CRITICAL COMMENTARY

have dominion over the whole world with the sanction of the
Ancient of Days, the only true God Who had existed from
all time. It cannot be shown from the context of this chapter
that the author meant by the Son of Man a special personal
Messiah-king, because, while the Son of Man is spoken of as
a personal ruler in v. 14, which would seem to support such
a theory, His personality and dominion arc explained in vv. 18;
22; 27 as being identical with that of "the Saints of the Most
High who shall take the kingdom". In other words, the writer
must have intended to imply the idea of a .personal type, a
personification of the Israelitish chosen ones who were to
rule over the Gentiles. In no part of the Book 22 is a per-
sonal Saviour-king prophesied, but always the ultimate dom-
ination of the ideal, eternal kingdom of the Saints.
Dr. Briggs, however, in his Messianic Prophecy, p. 420, con-
siders that because the Son of Man is brought chiefly into
contrast with the Little Horn, if the Little Horn be an indi-
vidual as is generally admitted, th~ Son of Man must also be
an individual and therefore the Messiah himsel£ 23 • This con-
clusion is unsatisfactory, because it is nowhere stated in C. vii.
that the Little Horn fought with the Son of Man personally,
but with the Saints (v. 21) who appear throughout the entire
chapter as synonymous with the Son of Man.
The accepted Christian explanation that this passage is a
prophecyreferring to the coming of Jesus as a personal Messiah
is not disturbed by such a view. ,v
e know now that the whole
idea regarding the Messianic functions of Israel was a fore-
shadowing of the· life and work of Our Saviour, and that this
thought culminates in Him and His Teachings. It cannot be
asserted, however, that t~e prophets who originated this con-

22 Cf. ii. 44; xii. 3. So most recent expositors. The idea that "the
Son of Man" does not refer to a personal Messiah was well known to
many Jewish commentators, among them Aben Ezra and Ephraem
Syrus. Cf. Stanton, The Jewish and Christian Messiah, 1886 (quoted
also Bevan, p. 119). 23 So also Behrmann, p. 48.
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. 139
ception had any such outcome in mind. They undoubtedly
thought of a purely temporal fulfillment of their idea, e. g.
that some day, after her period of chastisement and tribulation
was over, Israel as a people should rise purified and perfect
before Jhvh to take the lead in mundane affairs and rule over
the' other less favoured nations, to whom the Divine Light
had not been vouchsafed. There can be little doubt that the
author of D_aniel had this consolatory thought in mind when he
wrote the prophecies in C. vii. He seems to take no account
of a personal Messiah such as we find in the Deutero-Isaiah.
The more liberal minded of the later Hebrew writers, however,
approached still nearer the sublime truth. Thus, the author of
Jonah especially saw that Israel had no right to regard Jhvh
as her own personal property, but that He was equally a God
for all who would receive Him. It remained for Our Lord to
show the Jewish people that they had only been stewards of
Jhvh's mysteries and not, as they had fondly hoped, the nation
which was to rule over all the world as His earthly Viceroys.
They were simply chosen as the vessel to preserve the truth
for the benefit of the world at large, until the time was ripe
for its general revelation. In reading every Messianic prophecy,
therefore, the student should always bear in mind the distinct-
ion between the limited view of the Prophet and the ultimate
glorious fnllfilhnent of the predictions in the Person of Jesus.
16. Unto one of them that ~tood by, e. g. to one of the
angels who surrounded the Prophet during his vision.
17. Four Kings means here "four kingdoms"; cf. viii. 20.
18. The Saints of the Most High. So LXX. and 0.
Literally "the most high saints".
19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast.
The fourth beast, which has a direct bearing on the author's
own time is, of course the most important and therefore has
the longest description devoted to it.
28. Whose look was more stout than his fellows.
Literally "whose appearance was greater than that of its
140 CRI'flCAL COMMENTARY.

fellows". Although the horn was "little" at first, it had be-

come greater as Antiochus increased in power and was cer-
tainly of more importance for the Jewish readers of Daniel
than any of the others. Hitzig, p. 119, sees here a covert
allusion to the epithet of Antiochus IV: Epiphanes "renowned".
21. Made war with the Saints. This verse and v. 25 are
a plain allm1ion to the Jewish persecution under Antiochus;
see on vv. 13-14.
22. Judgment was given, e. g. justice was finally given
to the persecuted Israelites. · Ewald changes the text and
translates ''and judgment sat and the power was given". See
Kamphausen, p. 32 for a discussion of this ·emendation.
25. a)· To change times and laws. He tried to alter by
force the Jewish religious customs.
25. b) A time and times and the i;lividing of time. Literally
"a time and times and half a time", e. g. probably for three
years and a half, beginning with the abolition of the daily
sacrifice; see also xii. 7. The persecution of the Jews under
Antioehus Epiphanes is thought to have lasted from Dec.
168 until 165, probably a little over three years 24•
. 27. This is the culmination of the chapter, e. g. the triumph
of "the Saints" and their ideal Messianic kingdom, of which
Jhvh shall. be the Ruler and to which all nations shall be
tributary. The whole world shall be humiliated before Israel,
the Viceroy of the Most High.
28. But I kept the matter in my heart. This sentence
is simply a device to explain to the reader why the prophecy
was not made public directly after Daniel saw it, but was
reserved until the time of the author of the Book. A similar
device occurs in Luke, ii. 19 "But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart". ·
24 So Schurer, i. 155 ff. According to 1 Mace. iv. 52 the re-con-
secration o( the 'l'emple took place exactly three years after its pro-
fanation during the Antiochan persecution.
 CHAPTER EIGHTH. 141

CHAPTER EIGHTH.
In C. viii. the language becomes once more Hebrew 1•
In this section, as in C. vii., we find symbolical animals
used to denote empires, only here the author ignores utterly
the first power of Babylonia and, combining Media and Persia
in one emblem, proceeds at once to the Medo-Persian and
Greek dominions. The eighth chapter must be regarded as a
complement to C. vii., where the three first empires arc
mentioned in detail, in order to form a contrast to the terrible
fourth power of the Greek invaders. In viii., however, the
author leads up at once to the Greeks and treats of them
exclusively, merely allu~g in a preliminary way to the over-
throw of the Persian Ram by the attacks of Alexander.
Antiochus Epiphanes appears here, as in C. vii., as a Little
Horn, the blasphemous acts of which are set forth in clear
and unmistakable language.
The author's chief aim in C. viii. is undoubtedly to explain.
to his people that the power of Antiochus to vex the saints
of Israel was really given him from above and that Jhvh was
not ignorant of the wicked king's act in stopping the daily
sacrifice and desecrating the Holy of Holies. The underlying
idea, which, it is true, is nowhere definitely expressed, but is
none the less apparent to one who reads understandingly,
seems to be that these indignities and insults to Israel were
intended to serve as a chastisement for her and to lead
eventually to a new and more intense religious life. Antiochus,
therefore, was merely an instrument, a wicked king permitted
by Jhvh to have his way for a time. This seems to be the
reason why a definite limit is fixed in this chapter for the
duration of the heathen king's power over the Temple worship,
c. g. 1150 days, after which period the regular daily sacrifice
was to be restored and Temple cleansed.

1 See above pp. 11-13.

142 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

The difficulties of interpreting this strange prophecy will

be discussed below.
C. viii. should be divided into seven paragraphs: - The heading,
1-2; the Ram and the Goat, 3-8; the Little Horn, 9-12; the pro-
phecy of the duration of the vision, 13-14; the appearance
of the Angel, 15-18; the explanation, 19-26; the conclusion, 27.
I. a) In the third year of king Belshazzar. See above
p. 129 on vii. 1.
I. b) After that which appeared unto me at the first.
This of course refers to the vision described in C. vii.
2. a) Shushan in the palace which is in the province of
Elam. Literally: "Shushan of the castle", e. g. Shushan of the
royal palace, the capital city; cf. Esther i. 5; ii. 5, etc., and
Neh. i. 1 2• Susa (the modern Shuster) or Shushan on the west
bank of the Eulaeus 3 (Ulai) was originally the capital of the
Elamitic kingdom 4• It was afterwards the chief city of the
Achmmenian Persian kings before their conquest of Babylon
and on this account seems to have been regarded by the
later Jewish writers as the central Persian capital. The
province of Elam had probably the limits of the original king-
dom of that name which comprised the mountainous districts
to the North and East of Susa. In Babylonian, the name was
probably understood to mean "Highlands". The term came to
be used later, however, as a synonym of Persia; thus, the
Elymais of Josephus and others and t~e Elamites of Acts
ii. 9. It is very likely that this whole passage in Daniel is
modclcd on Esther and Nehemiah.
2. b) By the river of Ulai, e. g. the Eulaeus; Assyr. 'Ula.
This is in all probability the modern Karun, as Delitzsch 5
and Spiegel 6 have suggested, but Kiepert 7. following Herodotus
identifies it with the Karcha (Choaspes). Spiegel's theory re-

t See Billerbeck, Susa, 1893. 3 So Pliny and Anian, but Her.

i. 188 states that it was .on the Choaspes. 4 See Delitzsch, Paradies,

p. 326. 6 Op. cit. pp. 177 :ff. 6 Eran. Alterthumskunde ii. p. 626.

7 Nouvelle Carte generale des Provinces de !'Empire .Ottoman.

 CHAPTER EIGHTH. 143
conciling the confusing statements of the ancients regarding
the site of Susa is perhaps the most satisfactory. He suggested
that the ancient city really lay on a network of canals connect-
ing both the Karun and the Karcha and that consequently
it could be said to be on either river.
3. A ram which had two horns, etc. This is fully ex-
plained in v. 20 as representing the kings of Media and Persia.
The Hebrew word "ram" is used in several passages in the
sense of "leader, chief'; thus, of the princes of the Moabites,
Ex. xv. 15; also 2 Kings xxiv. 15; Is. xiv. 9; Zech. x. 3. Further-
more, in Ezek. xxxix. 18, rams, lambs, goats and bullocks are
co-ordinated with princes, so that the word not infrequently
appears as a symbol of power; The author recognizes the
unity of the Medes and Persians as a nation and so uses here
only one symbol. In C. vii., however, he distinguishes, between
them, because he was proceeding from a different point of
view, showing the historical succession of the powers. In
C. viii., on the other hand, there is no necessity for his going
back to the time when Media was a separate empire before
the rise of the Persians, so he begins with the Medo-Persian
kingdom after the political incorporation of the Medes as one
nation with the Persians.
For the sake of historical accuracy, however, he recognizes
the fact that Media had once had a distinct existence and in-
dicates this by the two horns of unequal length, of which the
first is the Median dynasty and the higher one, which came
up last, is of course the Persian dominion. This shows suf-
ficiently for hjs purpose the political difference between the two 8.
4-, a) I saw the ram pushing westward and northward
and southward. The extent of the Persian empire is de-
scribed by Her. iii. 89-96. The Ram does not push towards
the East, because the writer probably regarded this quarter
8 'rheodotion wrongly eonsiders that the two horns represent the

double line of Achremenians; viz., the shorter one that of Cyrus and
the longer one, that of Darius Hystaspes.
 144 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

as being too unimportant and distant for him to mention. His

ideas, i£ he had any, about the eastern limits of the Persian
empire must have been very vague. He accordingly mentions
only that part of the Persian dominion which he knew from
his own traditions. The translators of the LXX. did not under-
stand this and therefore wrongly inserted the word "eastward".
4. b) Became great. Better: "did great things" 9•
5. a) An he-goat came from the west. This is explained
v. 21 as "the king of Grecia", e. g. Alexander the Great. It
seems more accurate to consider the Goat as the symbol of
the Greek empire, because the Great Horn is the special symbol
of Alexander.
5. b) On the face of the whole earth. Alexander con-
quered all the known world. Hitzig, p. 129, compares 1 Mace.
i. 3, where it is stated that Alexander went through to the .
ends of the earth.
5. c) And touched not the ground, e. g. went so fast that
hes eemed to fly. This is plainly an allusion to the lightning-
like rapidity of the Greek marches. The same idea is seen
.in Is. xli. 3: "by the way that he had not gone with his feet",
a reference to the similar rapid conquests of Cyrus 10•
5. a) A notable horn between his eyes. Better: "a con-
spicuous horn''; viz., the Great Horn of vv. 8 and 21. This is
the emblem of Alexander himself. The great conqueror was
commonly called by the Arabs "he of the two horns", which
is probably an accidental coincidence 11•
In vv. 6- 7 we have a vivid description of the Persian con-
quests of Alexander.
7. And stamped upon him. As in vii. 7, the Greek power
is represented as stamping out utterly all that preceded it.

9
So Ewald, Behrmann and Bevan. 10 Not: "a way which he

was not accustomed to tread with his feet", Delitzsch, Jes. i p. 422.
11
Cf. Kalila wa Dimna, l:leyrouth ed. p. 12; quoting from Qoran, 18,
82ff.
 CHAPTER EIGHTH. 145
8. The great horn was broken, etc. Alexander died and
his kingdom was divided among his generals. It does not seem
probable that we have here an actual historical description of
the division, although some expositors consider that the_ four
horns typify Ptolemy of Egypt on the South, Seleucus of Asia
on the East, Cassander of Macedon on the West and Lysim-
achus of Thrace on the North 1 2• It is highly unlikely that the
author of Daniel had any such accurate knowledge of the
situation. He may merely have meant to indicate vaguely that
the power of Alexander had been divided in every quarter.
This seems to be the significance of the expression "towards
the four winds of heaven''. If, however, it be supposed that
the author had any exact idea of the kingdoms, we must be-
lieve from C. xi. that he considered Syria the northernmost.
In this case, his four empires would be Syria on the North,
Egypt on the South, Parthia on the East and Macedon on
the West.
9. a) And out of one of them came forth a little horn.
Better "another Little Horn"; see below philological note. This
is undoubtedly the same person as the Little Horn in vii. 8 ;
Antiochus Epiphancs. In C. vii, however, he is represented with
more attention to historical. accuracy as coming up after the
ten horns of his own dynasty, whereas here, the author merely
indicates generally that he was a product of the Great Horn
and the Goat, e. g. _a member of the Greek nation. There is
no contradiction between this passage and vii. 8. -
9. b) Towards the South and towards the East and
towards the pleasant land. Better "the Glory". He was
able to turn his power towards Egypt (xi. 5; 25; 1 Mace. i. 18),
towards Persia (1 Mace. iii. 31) and, most important of all,
towards Jerusalem the seat of the Holy Temple. The ortho-
dox critics, who admit very generally the identity of the Little
Horn of C. viii. with Antiochus, are unable to explain how

" So Porphyry in Jerome vii. 7.

Prince, Daniel. 10
146 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

a prophet living in Susa can refer to Persia as the East. This

expression of course betrays the Syrian authorship of the Book.
The use of the term "Glory" for the Holy City is quite in
accord with the general tone of C. vii., where the Israelitish
people are called "the Saints of the Most High". In Jer. iii. 19,
Zech. vii. 14 and various other passages, the Holy Land is
I
called ~'the Glorious Country". The attempts of Antiochus
against Jerusalem are described 1 Mace. i. 20 ff. .
10. a) Even to the host of heaven. Antiochus by his
desecration of the Sanctuary ventured to attack even the power
of Jhvh _Himself. · "The host of heaven", e. g. the stars, here
seems to refer to the heavenly people of Israel who are con-
ceived of in these idealistic chapters as a divinely appointed
angel-nation. This interpretation seems clear from the sub-
sequent passages vv. 11; 24. The idea is the same as that in
Isaiah xiv. 13, where the haughty king of Babylon is re-
presented as ascending into heaven and "exalting his throne
above the stars of God", thinking that he could subdue the
people of Jhvh and suppress their worship of Him. Indeed,
this passage in Daniel may have been suggested by Is. xiv.
10. b) And it cast down some of the host of the stars
to the ground and stamped on them. Many of the Jews
were tortured by the orders of Antiochus to force them to
consent to his idolatrous abominations; cf. 1 Mace. i. 44 ff.
"The stars" seems to be used here simply in explanation of
the word "host'' 13 •
11. a) For the discussion of the text and an emended trans-
lation of vv. 11-12, see below, philological note.
Even unto the Prince of the host. This can only refer to
the great Prince of the people of Israel, Jhvh Himself, Who
is referred t-o in v. 25 as "the Prince of princes" and Is. vi. 5
as "the King, Jhvh of Hosts". That this passage is a reference
13 So correctly Hitzig, p. 131. See on this passage viii. 9-14 and
Moore, Journal of Biblical Lit. xv. pp. 193-7, whose interesting inter-
pretation I am unable to accept.
 CHAP'fER EIGHTH. 147
♦
to the deposition and mmder by Antiochus Epiphanes of
Onias III. the High Priest, according to Bevan, p. 132, is
very uncertain, because the High Priest would hardly be called
"the Prince of princes" in the explanatory verse 25. The
allusion in xi. 22 to "the Prince of the Covenant", on the
other hand, may really be a reference to Onias.
11. b) And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away
1'
and the place of the Sanctuary was cast down. Better
"from Him", e. g. from Jhvh 14• For the daily offering, cf.
Dt. xxviii. 3 ff., and for the desecration of the Temple by
Antiochus, see 1 Mace. i. 44 ff.
12. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice
by reason of transgression. Translate "and its host (the
Horn's) was laid as a punishment upon the daily sacrifice";
viz., a punishment for Israel's former sins against Jhvh. The
agents of Antiochus certainly "cast down the . truth to the
ground" when they polluted the Holy of Holies. This sacrilege
was permitted by Jhvh as a chastisement and humiliati?n for
His people. The Horn, therefore, "practised and prospered"
with divine permission.
13. a) And I heard one saint speaking, etc. This is the
same idea as in iv. 14, where the angel announces the exact
natme of the decree, but the author here makes both question
and explanatory statement come from the divine beings. Daniel
is merely the mouth-piece who repeats what he has heard. It
is quite possible that this dialogue between angels was sug-
gested by Zech. i. 14 1 5.
13. b) How long shall be the vision? How long is the
state of affairs prophesied by the vision to last?
13. c) And the transgression of desolation, etc. For an
attempted emendation and revised translation of this difficult
and corrupt text, see below, philological note. As there indicated,
the translation should perhaps be: "For how long is the vision

u See below, philological note. 15 So. also Bevan, p. 134.

10*
148 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.
.
of the daily offering and of the devastating transgression?" i. e.
when may the oppressed Israelites expect permission to renew
the interrupted worship of Jhvh and how long is the "devas-
tating" transgression of the wicked king to last? There is
probably a double allusion here to their own transgressions
which, as stated in v. 12, were the cause of this punishment,
arid also_ to the sinful act of Antiochus Epiphanes in defiling
the Holy Place, which is described in xi. 31 as an abomination.
That this word "transgression'' in vv. 12-13 refers onl,y to the
iniquity of Antiochus is by no means certain. Its occurrence
with a double application in v. 13 would be parallel to the
similar use of "host'' in 11-12.
14. a) And he said unto me. Better "unto him", following
L:XX., 0 and P. Daniel takes no part in the dialogue.
14. b) Unto two thousand and three hundred days. Liter-
ally "evenings (and) mornings"; viz.; 1150 days. This seems
to be an allusion to the period spoken of in vii. 25 as "a
time and times and half a time", which referred to the duration
of Antiochus' persecution which lasted a little over three
years 16 • Some expositors, however, following LXX., interpret
this to mean 2300 full days, e. g. 1150 evenings and 1150
mornings, but the separation of the words "evening" and
"morning'' in the explanatory v. 26 seems to preclude this
rendering. As Bevan points out 17, the passage most probably
refers to the morning and evening sacrifice 18 • There arc to
be 2300 omissions of the daily offering extending over 1150
full days.
14. c) Then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed, Literally:
"be justified". It shall be considered righteous and entered
once more by the Divine Presence. After this period of pollu-
tion Jhvh will again accept the Sanctuary as His earthly abode.
It is highly likely that at the time when this was written the
persecution had not yet ceased.
18
So Cornill, Theol. Studien und Skizzen aus Ostpreussen ii. pp. 22 ff.
17 p. 136. 18 Ex. xxix. 41; Dan. ix. 21.
 CHAPTER EIGH'I'H. 149
lo. There stood before me as the appearance of a man.
Daniel again sees an angel, whom, however, in this passage
he does not question, as he did in vii. 16. The divine messenger
is commanded here by a mysterious voice to explain the vision
to the Prophet.
16. a) Between (the banks of) the Ulai, e. g. standing on
the water; cf. xii. 6.
16. b) Gabriel. This is the first occurrence of an angeYs
name iii the 0. T. In x. 13; 21, the name Michael is also
mentioned. In the older Hebrew literature, however, the names
of angels were never communicated to man; cf. Gen. xxxii. 29,
the refusal of the angel to tell his name to Jacob, and Ju.
xiii. 18, a similar case with Manoah. In the very late writings
such as Tobit and Enoch, and also in the Talmud, there is
a well developed system of angelology with an extensive list
of names 19 • Michael and Gabriel were regarded as the highest
in rank in the heavenly hierarchy, the former as stated in
Dan. xii. 1 being the Prince of the angels 20• Of the other
names, the most important are Raphael (Tobit iii. 17) and Uriel
(4 Ezra v. 20) 21•
17. a) Daniel is a ''son of man" 22 in contradistinction to
the supernatural character of Gabriel.
17. b) At the time of the end shall be the vision. Better
"the vision is for the time of the end". In,. such a context
this expression can only mean the end of the power of Anti-
'Ochus, after whom the kingdom of the Saints (viii. 26-7) shall
be established.
18. a) I fell upon my face, e. g. in awe at the supernatural
presence; cf. the similar act of Manoah and his wife before
an angel, Ju. xiii. 20.
18. b) I was in a deep sleep. More correctly "in a faint''
as in x. 9. Daniel after falling on his face had swooned at
the sound of the angel's voice.
19 Cf. Enoch vi. 7; xx. xl. 9. 20 Weber, System, pp. 162 ff. 21
Of.
22
in this connection Behrmann, p. 56. See above, p. 137.
150 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

19. a) At the last end of the indignation. When the period

of wrath is over; after the time of Israel's persecution is past;
cf. xi. 36.
19. b) For at the time appointed the end shall be. Better
"for the time of the end (the vision is)", supplying the last
three words from v. 17.
20. Here follows the detailed explanation as in vii. 16 ff.
See on vv. 3-4.
The kings of Media and·Persia. "Kings" is used here as
in vii. 17 in the sense of "empires".
21. The first king; of course, Alexander the Great.
22. a) Four stood for it. See above p. 145 on v. 8.
22. b) But not in his power. These kingdoms 23 were no
longer under the authority of Alexander's personal house. There
is no reason £or cancelling these words with Behrmann, p. 57.
23. a) And in the latter time of their kingdom; towards
the end of their rule. The belie£ that the end of the existing
order of things was near has ever been a characteristic of
times of extreme religious excitement.
23. b) A king of fierce countenance and understanding
dark sentences. For the expression "fierce countenance", cf.
Deut. xxviii. 50. This king, who "understood difficult matters",
e. g. had unusual skill in intrigue, was of course Antiochus,
whose double dealings are alluded to also v. 25; c£. 1 Mace. i. 30.
24:. a) But not by his own power. The power of the
wicked king exists by divine permission. Antiochus was a'
chastening instrument in the hands of Jhvh. There is no
reason to regard this phrase as an interpolation from v. 22 2'.
24:. b) And he shall destroy wonderfully, etc. His reign
shall be generally characterized by destruction, the special fea-
tures of which shall be the attempt to destroy the Holy People.
24:. c) And shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
''Mighty" here should be rendered "many" and the whole
23 See above on v. 8, p. 145. 24 So Kautzch-Marti; cf. Kamp-
hausen p. 34.
 CHAPTER NINTH. 151
passage translated "he shall destroy many; namely, the holy
people". This last allusion looks forwaJ"d to v. 25 25 •
26. a) Ahd through his policy also he shell cause craft
to prosper his hand. Better "by his hand''. This is a ref-
erence to the intrigues mentioned in v. 23.
25. b) And by peace he shall destroy many. Translate .
"unawaJ"es he shall destroy many''. This is plainly a refer-
ence to his sudden treacherous attack on Jerusalem, in which
many of the Jews perished; 1 Mace. i. 30.
25. c) The Prince of princes is undoubtedly Jhvh Who is
called "Lord of lords" g; c:xxxvi. 3; Dt. x. 17, and in Dan.
ii 47 "a Lord of kings". See above on vv. 10-11.
25. d) Without hand, e. g. without human interference;
cf. on ii 34, p. 69.
26. a) Shut thou up the vision; viz., keep the vision se-
cret, as in xii. 4; cf. also vii. 28. This injunction is charact-
eristic of the apocalyptic style. It is a device to explain why
the vision was not made known until the author's own time.
26. b) For many days. The vision is not to be fulfilled
until after many days.
27. But none understood it. This, if correct, would seem
to imply that Daniel told the vision to others, in contradiction
to v. 26. It should be rendered, however, "and I did not
understand it''.

CHAPTER NINTH.
The interpretation of this chapter, the chief point of which
is of course the record of the vision of the seventy weeks,
cannot be separated from that of the preceding sections. As
mentioned above, however, C. ix. di:ffers from vii. and viii. in
that there is here no metaphorical vision of symbolical animals
intended to serve as types of empires or kingdoms, but simply

26
See below, philological note for the views of Gratz and Bevan.
152 CRITICAL . C(,)~MENTARY.

a penitential prayer for Israel µtt~red by Daniel who is impelled

thereto by the prophecy in Jer.• nv. 11-12. This petition
is answered in direct language - :by the divine messenger
Gabriel. The angel prophesies to the Seer that there is to
be a period of seventy weeks, during which Israel shall make
atonement for her iniquity by suffering both the loss of her
Anointed One and her Holy City and Sanctuary, in which
the daily offering to Jhvh shall cease and an abomination be
set up in its place. The end of all is quite in accord with
the tone of the Book, for we read here again that the blas-
phemous king shall eventually be overthrown by the divine
decree.
The chapter should be divided into five paragraphs, as
follows: - The Prophet's determination to pray for Israel,
1-3; the confession, 4-14; the petition for a deliverance from
the punishment, 15-19; the appearance of Gabriel, 20-23; the
announcement of the seventy weeks, 24-27.
1. a) Darius .the son of Ahasuerus. See above p. 55 on
Darius the Mede.
1. b) The realm of the Chaldreans. Cf. iii. 8; v. 30 and
see pp. 59-60 on i. 4.
2. a) Understood by books. Translate "by the Scriptures".
It is useless to attempt to conjecture the exact meaning of
this expression. It is in all probability in this passage simply
a general term especially denoting the Book of Jeremiah,
where Daniel had seen the allusion to the seventy years of
desolation for Jerusalem, and which, being of course part of
the Scriptural Canon in the Maccabrean time, could .be thus
designated without ambiguity. There is no necessity for sup-
posing that the Scriptures mentioned here refer to some other
part of the Canon than Jeremiah, f. ex. the Pentateuch, as
Bevan needlessly conjectures (p. 149). The author meant to
make the Prophet say: "I Daniel perceived in the Scriptures
the number of the years whereof the word of Jhvh came to
Jeremiah, etc.", e. g. he saw in the Scriptures that there actu-
 CHAPTER NINTH. 153
ally was such a definite time of severity years appointed and
annollllced by divine revelation to Jeremiah, and he accord-
ingly prayed to Jhvh for Israel. ''Understood" here does not
necessarily mean "sought to understand" (v. Lcngerke) nor
"marked in the Scriptures the number" (Hitzig).
2. b) The word of Jeremiah the Prophet. This can only
refer to Jer. xxv. 11-12, the prophecy regarding the duration
of the Babylonian Captivity. As Daniel is represented as a
Babylonian Seer, the author no doubt regarded this prediction
of Jeremiah concerning the captivity of Israel in Babylon as
a peculiarly appropriate prophecy for his hero's consic;leration.
2. c) That he would· accomplish seventy years in the
desolations of Jerusalem. Literally "the number of the years
whereof the ·word of Jhvh came to Jeremiah the Prophet to
fulfil} the destruction of Jerusalem, namely seventy years".
3. a) I set my face unto the Lord God. ~aniel turned
towards the Temple as in vi. lL
3. b) To seek by prayer and supplication, etc. Better
"to seek (to apply myself to) prayer an:d supplication by means
of fasting, sackcloth and ashes". He prepared himself in the
usual way 1 for a divine revelation regarding the fate of Israel.
4--6. And made my confession. Daniel freely confesses the
sins of ·Israel and admits the justness of their punishment.
A number of expositors 2 have called attention to the striking
resemblance between this prayer and the similar petition in
N eh. i. 5 ff.; ix. 6 ff. and Baruch i. 15 ff. While it is possible
that it was especially these Nehemiah-Baruch prayers which
suggested this one in Dan. ix., it is equally permissible to
suppose that the author of Daniel was really not copying from
any one passage, but was simply making use of commonly
accepted devotional and penitential formula 3, such as for ex.
"keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him"; cf.
Ex; xx. 6; "we have sinned and committed iniquity'', 1P cvi. 6;
1 See p. 61 on i. 8. • So Hitzig, p. 147; Bevan, p. 150. See his
comparison of passages note 1. 3 So also Bevan.
154 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

"neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the Prophets'',

2 Chr. xxxvi. 15-6, etc.
There is absolutely no necessity for supposing with v. Gall,
pp. 123-6, that this entire passage is an interpolation like LXX.
iii. 25ft'. and LXX. iii. 52-90. That the prayer is merely a
combination of set liturgical f ormuke is quite evident, but its
presence is none the less necessary for the climax of the
chapter in vv. 21-27.
7. All Israel that are near and that are far off, e. g.
those of the Jews who were in Palestine and those who were
in foreign countries; c£ Jer. xxiv. 8-9; xl. 11. All Israel,
wheresoever her children may be, has richly deserved her
chastisement.
8. To our kings. As may be seen from the context both
here and in v. 6, this clearly points back to the early Jewish
history and _does not at all imply the existence of a Hebrew
king contemporary with the writer. It is interesting to notice
at this· point that there is no utterance in this prayer which
is not just as apptopriaw to the Maccabrean period as to the
supposed time of Daniel.
Verses 8-10 are really a repetition in a slightly diffe~ent
order of the ideas set forth in vv. 5-7.
11. The curse is poured out upon us and the oath that
is written in the law of Moses. The "curse" the proclama-
tion of evil upon Israel and the ."oath" is the record of the
· divine intention to carry out the curse. The curse mentioned
here as being written in the Pentateuch is probably the long
curse against the nation in case they refuse to accept the law of
Jhvh which is recorded in Deut. xxviii. 15-45; Lev. xxvi. 14 ff.
12. a) And he confirmed bis words, e. g. brought them to
pass. It is thought by some commentators that this verse is
a literal translation of Baruch ii. 1 ff."'
12. b) Against our judges. "Judges" here simply means

• So f. ex. Ewald, Beh~ann, etc.

 CHAPTER NINTH. 155
"kings" or "rulers" in a general sense; the same who were
mentioned in vv~ 6 ; 8 ; cf. 'ifl ii. 10 ; Mi. iv. 14. -
12. c).Under the whole heaven hath not been done as
bath been done at Jerusalem. Such indignities had never
been heaped upon the Sanctuary; such frightful abominations
had· never been done in the Holy City even in the days of
Nebuchadnezzar. The author applies all the worse features of
the curse to his own time when the Antiochan persecutions
were actually going on, and when the prophecy of evil seemed
to culminate;· cf. 1 Mace. i.; ii.
13. a) All this evil, e. g. all the evil prophesied in the
Pentateuch.
13. · b) · Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord.
Better "Yet have we not softened the countenance of Jhvh",
i. e. they had not propitiated Him; cf. Job xi. 19; P xlv. 13.
13~ c) And understand thy truth. Better "gain insight into
thy truth", e. g. discover the true revelation of salvation, as in
lff xix. 9; 'ifl xxxi. 5. Others translate "faithfulness" and inter-
pret it to mean the realization that God ·fulfills His threats 5•
Others again suggest the translation "to become wise through
Thy truth" 6; viz., through Jhvh's steadfast observance of his
threatened punishments.
14-. · Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil.
Jhvh has never ceased to remember the punishment which
He threatened in case of IsraePs disobedience. He has kept
the punishment, which is really His own justification, con-
stantly in mind. The wora "watch" is used in precisely the same
sense, Jer. i. 12; not "hasten'' as in the A. V.; also Pr. viii. 34.
lo.. a) Thou hast brought forth thy people out of the
land of Egypt. This is a coll:1mon allusion which served both
to illustrate Jhvh's power and to encourage the people; cf.
Ex. xiii. 9; Jer. xxxii. 21.
.15. b) Gotten thee renown as at this day. Literally ''Hast
made for Thyself- a name even for this day". Jhvh's fame in
6 So Hitzig. 8
So v. Lengerke.
156 ClU'flCAL COMMENTARY.

saving Israel so marvellously had never died out of the pop-

ular mind and was still alive at the time of the author; cf.
J er. xxxii. 20.
16. a) According to all thy righteousness. He adjures
Jhvh by His many righteous acts; acts of kindness to Israel,
to allow His fury to be turned from His people. In v. 14
"righteous" means "just'', but for righteousness in this sense
of ''graciousness", cf. Is. xlii. 21 ; Zeph. iii. 5; Deut. xxxii. 4;
Ju.v. 11.
16. b) Thy holy mountain in apposition to Jerusalem,
cf. Is. ii. 2, the mountain of the Lord's house. ·
16. c) Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach
to all that are about us. The Holy City and the Holy People
are an object of mockery to all the surrounding heathen who
taunted the Jews about the powerlessness of Jhvh to saye
His people from the persecutions of Antiochus.
17. a) The sanctuary that is desolate, e. g. the defiled
Holy of Holies, in which Antiochus had set up a "desolatrn'g
abomination"; cf. v. 27.
17. b) For the Lord's sake. Better "for Thine own sake",
following fiP . .
18. a) Incline thine ear and hear; open thine eyes and
behold. This seems to be taken verbatim from Is. xxxvii. 17.
18. b) The city which is called by thy name; viz., the
city which rightfully belongs to Jhvh. This statement is re-
peated for greater emphasis in the following verse. The pe-
titioner seeks to impress upon Jhvh that His own city is be-
ing destroyed.
21. a) The man Gabriel. The angel is sent, nut- to tell
Daniel the meaning of the prophecy in Jeremiah; ~ 'general
signification of which the Seer already understood ·lv, 2); but
to increase his knowledge by explaining the application of the
prediction more fully and distinctly. Cf. v. :,< 22,,: "to give
.·.;•a .;,'.
thee
:

7 See below, philological note.

 CHAPTER NINTH. 157
skill and understanding'', i. e. to give thee a more clear under-
standing.
21. b) Being caus~d to :fly swiftly. Flying angels never
appear in the 0. T., although we find a flying seraph men-
tioned Is. vi. 6, and the flying of Jhvh upon a cherub spoken
of 1P xviii. 11; 2 Sam. xxii. 11. It is quite possible that "to
fly" here in Daniel means simply "to proceed with great rapid-
ity' and that the phrase should therefore be translated "hasten-
ing rapidly''. The author may of course have had in mind
the flying seraphs and cherubs of the passages just quoted
and applied this idea to angels, but such a view is not satis-
factory owing to the lack of analogy in the 0. T. Behrmann 8
calls attention to the fact that winged angels appear first in
Enoch lxi.
21. c) Touched me. Better "approached me".
21. d) About the time of the evening oblation, e. g. about
sunset, cf. Nu. xxviii. 4. This expression is used here merely
to specify the tiine when the angel appeared to Daniel. The
evening sacrifice itself had of course ceased during the Anti-
ochan persecutions.
24:-27, Seventy weeks are determined upon thy city.
The chief point of the angel's explanation is that the seventy
years of Jeremiah's prophecy were not ordinary years, but in
reality year-weeks, e. g. that each year of J ercmiah meant seven
years and that the whole period of probation and trial was
therefore to last 490 years instead of seventy years as is
stated in Jer. xxv. 11-12. That these weeks of Dan. are weeks
of years and not of days has been corn.monly accepted by
critics :fr9.lll the very earliest times 9• This whole passage is
a most in,t'Elresting :example of the apocalyptic style. The author
~es Ji genuin~t prophecy, undoubtedly intended by _its origi-,
~: -:>_i_,-·'L' ._
D.lUl:.-P: _62. ,; _,:S 9 I except of course the extravagant theories of
_ _8 _

some orthbdox expositors like Kliefoth, Keil, etc. who, in their efforts
to prove the divine-character of the prophecy, distort the interpretation
grotesquely and needlessly (see Bevan, p. 142 and note, on Keil, p. 332).
158 CRITICAL COMMEN'rA..RY.

nator to refer siµiply to the duration of the Babylonian cap-

tivity, and, by means of a purely arbitrary and mystical inter-
pretation, makes it denote the entire p()riod of Israel's degra-
dation down to his- own time. The writer does not do this
in his own words, but, true to the apocalyptic method, by
means of the utterance of an angel whom he makes appear
to his hero and give an explanation of the prediction concern-
ing which Daniel had been praying. The prophecy in these
verses is in reality an extension of the vision of the 2300
evening-mornings of viii. 14 and of the "time, times and half
a time" of vii. 25.
The real point at issue here is not so much the meaning
of "week" 10, which can hardly b~ar any other interpretation
than "seven years", but is the question as to what period of
time the author really meant to indicate by the mysterious
seventy weeks. When does this epoch begin and, still more
important, when does it end? Owing to the immense number
of views on this subject, it is quite impossible to discus~ them
at any length. It may truly be said that the name of these
theories is legion. The reason for such a great diversity of
opinion is undoubtedly the desire felt by a number of ex-
positors to make the seventy weeks extend to a given historical
point which differs according to _the attitude of the respective
critics or schools of critics. Thus, the terminus ad quem has
been variously fixed as, 1. the end of the Maccabrean period;
2. the birth of Christ; 3. Christ's first public appearance;
4. the Crucifixion; 5. the war under V espasian; 6. the war
under Hadrian; 7. the second coming of Christ. As to the
beginning of the period, the terminus a quo, opinions are natu-
rally almost equally at variance. We find the following views:
1. the t~e of the prophecy Jer. xxv. 11-12; 2. the time of
DanieYs supposed activity, e. g. the beginning of Cyrus' reign
in Babylon; 3. the date of the first decree of Artaxerxes
10 See, however, the numerous views cited Behrmann, p. 65'; Bevan
pp. 142 ff.
 CHAPTER NIN'rR. 159
Longimanus, Ezra vii. 1 (458 B. C.); 4. the date of the second
decree of the same king, Neh. ii. lff. (455 B. C.); 5. the birth
of Christ.
It seems quite clear from 2 Chron. xxxvi. 19-21 that the
seventy years of Jeremiah were regarded as beginning with
the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar
in 586 B. ·C., and it- appears equally likely that the earlier
Hebrews considered the close of the seventy years to have·
been the return of the exiles to Palestine in the first year of
Cyrus (537); cf. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra i. 1 ff. In point
of fact, however, as will appear from the dates 586-537, the
exact duration of the exile was only forty nine years, so that
the seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy must really be re-
garded as a round number. This fact should be borne in
mind in discussing the duration of the seventy year-weeks of
Daniel, because we have no right to suppose that the Macca-
bman author would be more accurate in his reckoning than
was Jeremiah.
The seventy weeks are divided into three periods of un-
even length; viz., one of seven weeks; one of sixty two weeks,
and the last of one week. It seems probable that the author
of Daniel like the· Chronicler began his seventy weeks with
the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. He gives the duration
of his first seven weeks "from the going forth of the command-
. ment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the prince".
This "commandment" must be the divine word spoken through
Jeremiah quoted in v. 2, that the desolation of Jerusalem
should last only seventy years. The author evidently regarded
the utterance of Jeremiah's prophecy and its fulfillment as
being practically contemporaneous events and accordingly dates
from the chief occurrence predicted, i. e. the destruction of the
. Holy City under Zedekiah in 586. The end of his first seven
weeks then must be the end of the Babylonian captivity in
537, and his "Messiah the Prince" may therefore. be Joshua
the son of Jozadak mentioned Ezra iii. 2 who was the first
160 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

High Priest 11 after the exile, and who was with the first party
that returned. It is certainly significant that the first seven
weeks, i. e. forty nine years, should coincide exactly with the
duration of the captivity in Babylon. That our author is more
accurate in this respect than Jeremiah is probably because the
prophecy in Daniel is a vaticinium ex eventu concerning a
period, all the details of which were well known in the very
latest times. Not until the second period of sixty two weeks
do we begin to find any historical inaccuracies.
This second period of the epoch, during which Jerusalem
is to be peopled and built, and at the end of which the Messiah
is to be cut off, is much more difficult to determine. The
key to the problem lies undoubtedly in the last statement
regarding the overthrow of the Messiah or Anointed One e1..
Such a reference coming from a Maccabrean author can only
allude to the deposition by Antiochus of the High Priest
Onias III. which took place about 17 4 B. C. and the Syrian
king's subsequent murder of the same person not later than
171 (2 Mace. iv. 33-6). The difficulty now arises that between
537 and 171 there are only 366 years instead of the required
number 434. It does not seem permissible with some ex-
positors13 to reckon the sixty two weeks from the beginning of
the seventy weeks; viz., 586 B. C., thus causing the first period
of seven weeks and the second of sixty two weeks to overlap.
This was certainly not the author's intention, as the whole
passage shows very plainly that he meant seventy consecutive
weeks; besides, nothing is gained by such a device, because
this would bring the date down to the meaningless year 152
which would be too late to refer to Onias, unless of course
the beginning of the whole period be set back, for which there
seems to be no warrant. By far the most satisfactory theory
regarding discrepancies of this sort in the later Jewish authors
11 Cf. Zech. iii. 1. 12 That the term Messiah or Anointed One

is used of the High Priest is seen from Lev. iv. 3; v. 16. 13

So
Behrmann, p. 66.
 CHAPTER NIN'fH. 161

is that of Cornill 14 who correctly saw that a Maccabrean author

could not be expected to be perfectly acquainted with the
chronology of the Persian period. He therefore adopted the
only tenable theory regarding the problem; viz., that the author
of Daniel did not know the chronology between 537 and 312,
the establishment of the Seleucidan era, and consequently made
the period too long 15 • That the Jewish historians, when
they were in doubt, had a tendency to do this is seen from
the much quoted example of Demetrius 16 who placed the fall
of Samaria (722 B. C.) 573 years before the accession of
Ptolemy IV (222), thus making an error of seventy three years.
Josephus who places the reign of Cyrus 40-50 years too early
makes a similar error.
The last week is divided into two sections (26-27), in the
first of which the city and Sanctuary shall be destroyed, and
in th~ second, the daily offering is to be suspended. All crit-
ical scholars recognize the identity of this second half week
with "the time, times and half a time" of vii. 25 17• This last
week must end therefore with the restoration of the Temple
worship in 164 B. C.
This whole prophecy unquestionably presents problems which
can never be thoroughly understood, first, because the author
must have been ignorant both of history and chronology, and
secondly, because in his effort to be as mystical as possible,
he purposely made use of indefinite and vague expressions
which render the criticism of the passage a thankless and
unsatisfactory task.
24:. a) To finish the .transgression and to make an end
of sins, etc. Literally "to seal up the sins", which really
means to finish or complete them. All these infinitives show
the purpose for which the seventy weeks were ordained. They
point to the future; to what is to happen after the period of
14 St. 0. ii. 1-32. 15 So also Meinhold, Bevan, Graf and Noldeke.
10 Behrmann, p. 65; Bevan, p. 148, quoting Schurer, Gesch. ii. p. 616.
17 Of. also the 1150 days of viii. 14.
Prince, Daniel. 11
162 CRl'rICAL CO~MENTARY.

probation is completed. These six acts; viz., finishing the

transgression, making an end of the sins, making reconcilia-
tion for iniquity, bringing in everlasting righteousness, sealing
up the vision and prophecy and anointing the Holy of Holies
are grouped in three pairs. The sins and iniquity referred to
are of course the former idolatrous unfaithfulness of Israel
against Jhvh.
24:. b) To anoint the Most Holy does not allude to the
anointing of a Messianic King, according to the idea of the
translators of the .A. V., but simply ineans the reconsecration
of the Sanctuary after its defilement under .Antiochus. For
the term applied to the sacrificial altar, cf. Ex. xxix. 37. ·
25. To restore and to build. Perhaps "to people and to
build", following Bevan; see below, philological note. The last
part of this verse is very obscure. It should perhaps be rend-
ered: ".And (in) sixty two weeks it (Jerusalem) shall be pec;ipled
and built, public places and (private) garden trenches". For
the last words "even in troublous times" see next verse.
26. The following translation for this verse is suggested
in accordance with the philological notes: ".And in the end of
the times 18 (namely, after the sixty two weeks) the .Anointed
One shall be cut off and there shall be no one for him (no
successor); and as for the Holy City, the people of the prince
who is to come shall destroy it and its end shall be in
overwhelming flood, and unto the end shall be war. Desol-
ations are decreed''.
."The people of the prince" must mean the army of .Anti-
ochus. "People" in this sense appears also in the Song of
Deborah, Ju. v. 2.
The prince who is to come is of course Antiochus him-
self who is the subject of the first sentence in the last verse.
27. The following conjectural translation for this verse is
suggested: "And he shall turn aside the covenant for the many
1•This is the proposed translation of the words rendered in A. V.
"even in troublous times".
 CHAPTER TENTH. 163
one week, and half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice
and the fruit offering to cease; and instead thereof, (there shall
be) a desolating abomination; but furthermore, ruin and judg-
ment shall be poured out upon the desolator".
The subject of the first two verbs is Antiochus who sub-
stituted the ('desolating abomination" for the regular sacrifice.
In the last clause we have the prophecy of his overthrow;
cf. viii. 25.

CHAPTER TENTH.
The tenth Chapter is the Prologue of the last section of
the Book which treats of Daniel's fourth vision recorded in
xi.-xii. This prophecy, as it deals directly with the period
and reign of Antiochus Epiphanes himself, is really the climax
of the second part of the work and therefore probably seemed
to the author to need a longer introduction than the other
chapters. The details of the vision will be discussed under
Cc. xi.-xii.
C. x. should be divided into five paragraphs as follows:
- Daniel's preparation for the vision, 1-3; the appearance
of the divine messenger, 4-8; the angel reassures Daniel,
9-11; he explains the object of his coming, 12-14; conver-
sation between Daniel and the angel, 15-xi. 1.
I. a) The third year of Cyrus. This is the latest date
mentioned in Daniel's career (see also above p. 63 on i. 21).
It would be useless to speculate on the significance of this
date as some have done, asking why Daniel remained so long
in Babylon. The date was probably merely intended to serve
as a heading quite irrespective of any attempt at correct
chronology 1•
I. b) But the time appointed was long. This can hardly
be a correct rendering. Translate "And the distress was great'' 2 •

1
See below p. 168 on :ri, 1. 2
See below, philological note.
11*
164 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

2. I Daniel was mourning, e. g. over the desolation of Israel.

3. Pleasant bread. Lit. "bread of. preciousness" 3, e. g.
dainty leavened bread. This is employed in contrast to the
unleavened bread used in fasting which is called the bread
of affliction (Dt. ni. 3).
4. a) And in the four and twentieth day of the first
month. This was Nisan 24th, the month of the Passover,
during which a week of fasting was enjoined.
ii. b) Which is Hiddekel. This name, which occurs only
here and in Gen. ii. 44, was perhaps borrowed by the author
from the latter passage. There is absolutely no reason to
cancel these words as a gloss with Behrmann (p. 67) 4•
5. a) A certain man clothed in linen. The idea seems
to have been borrowed from Ezek. ix. 2 5 • The official
vestments of the Jewish priests were of linen, as may be seen
from Lev. vi. 3, xvi. 4, so that it was natural enough for a
Jew to conceive of angels, the higher priesthood, in a simi-
lar garb.
5. b) Gold of Uphaz can o:nly be a textual corruption for
"gold of Ophir'' which occurs !fl xlv. 9.
6. a) The beryl. Better "chrysolith", according to Josephus.
It is called "tarshish" in Hebrew, probably because it was
brought from Tartessus in Spain 6 •
6. b) Polished brass. This is a very doubtful rendering.
The exact meaning is not clear 7 •
6. c) Like the voice of a multitude; cf. Is. xxxiii. 3.. The
angel's voice was deep and resonant like the sound of many
human voices; cf. Rev. xix. 6.
7. The men that were with me saw not the vision. It
is strange that precisely the same thing is told of the com-
panions of St. Paul when he saw the vision which led to his
conversion; Acts ix. 7.
3 See below on ix. 23. 4 See Kamphausen, Dan. p. 37. 6 So

Hitzig, Bevan, etc. • Cf. Ex. xxviii. 20; Ezek. i. 16 and see Pliny,
37, 109. 7 See below, philological note.
 CHAPTER TENTH. 165
8. a) I retained no strength is absolutely necessary to
round off the verse. There is no reason to suppose it to be
a gloss with Behrmann (p. 68). .
8. b) The voice of his words, e. g. the sound of his words.
9. a) Then was I in a deep sleep on my face. Better:
"then I being unconscious on my face". The phrase is really
a circun1stantial clause. As in viii. 18, Daniel faints at the
sound of the heavenly voice.
9, b) And my face towards the ground. This has been
unnecessarily regarded as a redundant gloss by Behrmann 8 •
10. And set me upon my knees and upon the palms of
my hands. Better "and set me trembling upon, etc." Daniel
was lifted up by an unseen hand, evidently that of the Angel,
from the prostrate posture to his hands and k.nce!j, a position
still common in the East during prayer.
12. a) For from the first day, c. g. fro~ the beginning of
the three weeks when Daniel had begun to prepare himsel£
for a divine revelation by fasting.
12. b) For thy words: "on account of thy words", e. g. by
reason of thy prayers for enlightenment. This meaning is
perfectly clear and it is quite unnecessary to translate with
Behrmann "for thy sake".
13. a) The prince of the kingdom of Persia is the guardian
angel of the Persian power who had attempted to prevent
the divine messenger from enlightening the representative of
Israel. The allusion here is not clearly brought out, so that
it is practically impossible to know exactly what the author
meant by the Persian angel's resistance. It is evident, at
any rate, that he intended to indicate that the Persians, like
their predecessors the Babylonians and their successors the
Greeks, were inimical to the chosen people of Jhvh.
It is highly probable that this system of special guardian
angels for various nations is of Persian origin, but it is by

s But see Kamphausen, p. 38.

166 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

no means certain when the idea was first adopted by the Jews.
Behrmann's view that nowhere in the .Book of Daniel do we
find a system of angelology which could not have been devel-
oped independently along the lines of native theological thought
without any extraneous influences, is hardly satisfactory 9•
While it is true that the earlier Jewish writers believed in
angels-possibly survivals of a still more primitive star wor-
ship-there seems to have been no tendency to establish a
definite system or hierarchy of such divine beings until quite
a late date, probably as late as the period of the Persian su-
premacy. Various commentators have referred to the passages
Is. xxiv. 21 and <JI lxxxii. as ·a proof that the belief in national
guardian angels was held at a very much earlier time than
the Book of Daniel, but, as the date of both of these quotations
is uncertain, and as they are themselves extremely indefinite
in their allusions, no satisfactory conclusion can be drawn from
them. The probability is that the system of angels which
seems to be accepted in Daniel as a recognized belief was a
natural developement of the earlier Hebrew indefinite ideas
regarding the heavenly host, which took place under the
influence of the elaborate system with which the Jews came
into contact at the time of and after the Persian conquest of
Babylon 10 •
The idea that the ''Prince of the kingdom of Persia'' was
Cyrus, a human being, as was supposed by Havernick is en-
tirely against the context. Even Jerome recognized that this
was a guardian angel.
The name of the angel who revealed to Daniel the vision
recorded in xi.-'Xii. is not recorded, but we are led to assume
that he is an assistant of Michael who is the national guardian
spirit of Israel 1 1•
13. b) And I remained there with the kings of Persia.
Translate: ''While I was left alone there, contending with the

• Dan. p. xxiii. 10 See above p. 149 on viii. 16. 11 Cf. v. 21 and xii. 1.
 CHAPTER TENTH. 167
kings of Persia" 12• The angel means to say that Michaei the
guardian of Israel cmne to aid him while he was contending
with the hostile Persian dynasty. The allusion to the twenty
one days is to explain why Daniel had receiyed no answer
to his prayer for three full weeks (v. 2). The angel had really
been contending with the Persians since the beginning of their
supremacy in Babylon (cf. xi. 1).
14:. For yet the vision is for many days. The vision
points to a distant future. Some expositors translate "Since
the vision is still for these days", i e. for these latter days
just referred to. The former rendering seems more satisfactory,
because "days" may be used here as in Neh. i. 4 in the sense
of "many days"; cf. also 1 Sam. ii. 19, where the yearly sacri-
fice is· called the sacrifice of days (scil. "many days').
15. I set my face towards the ground. Not as in v. 9
involuntarily through physical fear, but voluntarily in homage
to God's messenger; cf. ix. 3.
16. a) One like the similitude of the sons of men touched
my lips. This is clearly the angel himself; cf. Is. vi. 7.
16. b) By the vision my sorrows are turned upon me.
The expression "sorrows" here should really be rendered "pangs",
as it is a word used of the pains of childbirth (1 Sam. iv. 19).
It is found in the sense of bodily discomfort during a super-
natural revelation also Is. xxi. 3.
18. So great was Daniel's terror that he required to be
touched and reassured by the arigel a second time.
19. Be ·strong, yea be strong is an excellent rendering 1 3•
20-21. The train of thought here is certainly not logical.
The question ''Imowest thou wherefore I come unto thee?" is
merely rhetorical. Daniel of course knows that the messenger's
purpose is to bring a revelation (cf. v. 14). The angel, there-
fore, does not answer his own question at once, but proceeds
to state parenthetically that he must return directly to fight
12 Bevan's suggestion, p. 168, is almost the same, but see below,

philological note. 18 So also Kautzsch-Marti. See Kamphausen, p. 38.

168 CRITIQAL COMMENTARY.

for the interests of Israel with the angel of Persia and he

very significantly prophesies that after the Persian power, he,
the representative of the people of Jhvh, will be opposed by
the guardian angel of Greece, a new enemy. The introduc-
tory section would have been incomplete without this allusion
to the power under which Antiochus flourished, a detailed de-
scription of which is to follow in C. xi. After this parenthet-
ical statement the angel then answers his own question "but I
will show thee, etc."
21. a) The scripture of. truth is probably the book of
divine records kept in Heaven, in which all future events are
entered and which is alluded to 1P cxxxix. 16.
21. b) And there is none that holdeth with me, etc.
Better "there is none that helpeth me", e. g. the angel speaking
is the assistant of Michael, the guardian of Israel.
21. c) In these things. Lit. "against these"; viz., against the
hostile heathen powers.
xi. 1. Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even
I, stood to confirm and stengthen him. This is an extremely
difficult passage, first, because of the ambiguity of the pronoun
"him'' and secondly, because of the disagreement between the
ancient versions. It is uncertain whether the author meant "him"
to refer to Michael or to Darius the Mede, besides which the
verb-form "stood" is corrupt in the Masoretic text 14• If xi. 1
be taken in close connection with x. 21, it seems clear that
the angel meant to indicate that he had confirmed and strength-
ened Michael in the first year of Darius the Mede which to
the author of Daniel was the beginning of the Persian suprem-
acy, i. e. that he had been · unceasingly engaged in striving
with the heathen Medo-Persian power since the very beginning
of its career in Babylon. The author's intention !l,eems to have
been to impress upon his readers the constant watchfulness
of Jhvh over the welfare of His people.
u See below, philological note.
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 169

CHAPTER ELEVENTH.
The second verse of the eleventh Chapter begins the reve-
lation. This entire section, which is simply a description in
purposely mysterious language of the rise and fall of Antiochus
Epiphanes, the great enemy of the Jewish race, has been aptly
compared to a shadow-play, the characters of which can be
guessed at only by the initiated. The author, therefore, in
many cases takes especial pains to leave the subject or object
of the verb unexpressed, in order to obscure his real meaning.
Such a strange style was followed probably for the sake of
his own and his readers' safety during the violent persecution
under which the Jews were suffering at that time.
The paragraphs relating to Antiochus himself (vv. 21-45)
are preceded by a resume (vv. 1-20) in the form of a prophecy
concerning the chief historical events which were to take place
between the assumed time of Daniel-the beginning of the
Persian empire in Babylon (537 B. C.) -and the accession of
Antiochus Epiphanes (175 B. C.). The author evidently con-
sidered such an introduction necessary, because even he would
have felt the incongruity of a prophecy concerning his own
time addressed without any connecting links to a person living
during the reign of Cyrus. He accordingly docs not begin
at once with the period of the Maccabrean persecution, but
leads up to it quite skilfully by making the angel explain to
Daniel what was to come to pass in his (Daniel's) immediate
future. The climax of the prediction is, of course, the last
section, vv. 20-45, treating especially of th.e reign of the Syrian
persecutor. The author's object in this entire section is the
same as that which he keeps in mind throughout the Book,
e. g. to show his readers how the earlier heathen powers in-
vited destruction by their own wicked acts and that conse-
quently the same fate was likely to overtake Antiochus.
It is difficult to decide just when Cc. x.-xii., were written,
but it is probable for the following reasons that they were
170 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

composed b.efore the death of Antiochus. First, the fact that

there is no mention whatever of the successful rebellion, under
Judas Maccabreus nor of the restoration of the Temple worship,
to both of which occurrences the author appears to look for-
ward, shows plainly .that these events had not yet taken place.
In v. 34, £or example, he seems to attempt to console those
sturdy spirits who in their first endeavour to resist the king's
attacks on Jhvh's worship were repulsed and disheartened.
He explains this their fall as he does all the misfortunes of
Israel as a means of chastisement "to prove them" (v. 35).
Secondly, his apparently unhistorical statements regarding the
wars of Antiochus with Egypt show that the Book must have
been finished before the close of that king's career. The author
introduces three allusions to such wars, the first two of which
(25-28; 29-35) are historical, but the last of which (40-43)
was probably an incorrect forecast.
The chapter should be divided into eleven paragraphs : - The
last kings of Persia, 2 ; the rise of Alexander and his succes-
sors, 3-4; Ptolemy I., Seleucus I. and Ptolemy II., Antiochus II.
5-6; Ptolemy ill. and Seleucus II., 7-9; Antiochus ill.,
the Great, 10-19; Seleucus IV., 20; the accession of Antiochus
Epiphanes, 21-24; his first Egyptian campaign (170 B. C.),
25-28; the third Egyptian campaign and the. pollution of the
Sanctuary, 27-35; description of the wicked king's personal
character, 36-39; the prophecy of another Egyptian expedition
and of the king's overthrow, 40-45.
2. a) Yet three kings in Persia. Three kings are to arise
after Cyrus (cf. x. 1), but there is no hint given as to their
identity, possibly because this allusion was sufficient to inform
the reader of the Book who were meant. The 0. T. mentions
the names of only four Persian monarchs: - Cyrus, Darius,
Xerxes and Artaxerxes, and it seems probable that our aQ.thor
knew no more than these and was perhaps also ignorant of
the fact that the name Darius is not always used of the same
person. On the other liand, he must have known that the
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 171
Persian period lasted much longer than the reigns of only four
kings (cf. ix. 25). We must conclude, therefore, that these
kings are used here rather in the sense of historical epochs
than of reigns, although the author may really have known
of no other individual reigns than the ones he mentions.
2, b) And the fourth shall be richer than they all. .All
expositors agree that this is Xerxes, so that the author's four
kings are probably Cyrus, Darius, .Artaxerxes and Xerxes. He
seems not to have known that Artaxerxes I. came after Xerxes.
2. c) He shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
This is the rendering of V. and appears to be correct. The
expression "realm, kingdom'' is peculiar, however, as this is
by no means the proper term to apply to Greece at the time
a
of Xerxes. There seems to be again confusion of historical
facts, the author probably having in mind here the empire of
.Alexander. Behrmann asks by what other term the writer
could have denoted the federation of Greek states. Had he
known of the existence of various states in Greece at the
period of which he was writing, he would very likely have
simply used the word "Greece".
3, And a mighty. king shall stand• up; of course .Alexander
the Great.
4:. His kingdom shall be broken, etc. This is apparently
an allusion to the division of Alexander's empire among his
generals 1•
The last half of v. 4 seems to show clearly that the author
meant to allude here to the partition of Alexander's power.
Even for .others ■esides those must refer then to the rise
of subsidiary dynasties in .Armenia, Cappadocia and,elsewhere.
Hitzig \l translates "to the exclusion of those", meaning the
sons of Alexander, but the Hebrew preposition used here
always means ''besides".
6. a) And the king of the South shall be strong. At
this point the author takes up the history in which he is more
1 See p. 145 on viii. 8. 2 Dan. p. 189.
172 CRITICAL COMMENT.ARY.

immediately interested; that of the Ptolemrean kingdoms of the

South and that of the Seleucidan kingdoms of the North. The
king of the South here, therefore, is Ptolemy I. the son of
Lagus 3 (306 B. C.), the founder of the Ptolemrean dynasty,
whose career was highly important in Jewish history, as he
captured Jerusalem by strategy and is said to have deported
a number of Jewish prisoners from Samaria and Palestine to
Egypt. He is said also to have induced many Jews to take
up their permanent residence in Egypt because, as Stade points
out 4, he recognized their importance as a connecting link be-
tween the native Egyptians and the ruling Greek race.
5. b) And one of his princes. This expression should go
with what follows; viz., "And one of his princes shall be strong
above him", etc. "His" refers to Ptolemy. The person alluded
to is clearly Seleucus Nicator, the founder of the Seleucidan
dynasty, who was at first an officer in Ptolemy's army and
who in 306 B. C. became the king of Syria and of the eastern
provinces of Alexander's dominion. So great was the power
of Scleucus I. that he was regarded by the ancients as be-
ginning a separate chronological era; c£ 1 Mace. i. 10.
6. a) And in the end of years they shall join themselves
together. The author omits entirely any mention of Antiochus
Soter, the son and successor of Seleucus I. The subject of
the verb "they" does not refer to the two kings mentioned in
v. 5, but to Ptolemy II., Philadelphus and Antiochus II., Theos,
the son of Antiochus I., Soter.
The "king's daughter of the south" was Berenice, daughter
of Ptolemy Philadelphus who was given in marriage in 248 B. C.
to Antioc~us II., in order to establish a firm alliance between
Egypt and Syria.
6. b) The power of the arm probably means political support
as in vv. 15; 22; 31. Berenice, in spite of her marriage to
Antiochus, shall not retain the power to support her father.
3 So Jerome.
" Cf. Stade, Gesch. ii. p. 276; Jos. Ant. xii. l;
Contra Apionem ii. 4.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN'fH. 173
6. c) Neither shall he stand nor his arm is highly un-
satisfactory. If the text remains unaltered, it should probably
be translated "and his arms (supports) shall not abide", i. e.
Ptolemy's daughter shall have no power to aid him, nor shall
his other supports be of any use to him. The only satisfac-
tory translation, however, is that of 0 "and his seed shall
not abide", e. g. the seed of Ptolemy, referring to the inability
of Berenice to aid her father.
6. d) But she shall be given up, etc. This text is ab-
solutely untranslatable as it stands, because the verb cannot
mean "given up to destruction", as the A. V. implies, nor, assu-
ming the text to be corrupt, is it clear just what has been
changed or omitted. Perhaps we should translate "But she
and he that sent for her and he that begat her and he that
strengthened her shall become a terror (?)", e. g. shall be de-
stroyed in so terrible a way that the world shall be frightened.
The idea seems to be that Berenice's father and husband shall
perish, in spite of their effort to gain strength by an alliance.
This is undoubtedly an allusion to the historical events which
followed this unfortunate marriage. Antiochus II. was poisoned
in 24 7 by Laodice, his first wife, whom he had put aside in
order to marry Berenice. Laodiee also murdered Berenice and
her child. Ptolemy Philadelphus on hearing of his daughter's
death died of a broken heart.
7. a) But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand
up in his estate. Better ''but one of the offshoots of her
roots shall arise in his stead". This offshoot of her (Bcrenice's)
roots is her brother Ptolemy III., Euergetes, who succeeded his
father Ptolemy Philadelphus on the throne of Egypt. "In his
estate", therefore, clearly means "instead of Ptolemy Phil-
adelphus".
7. b) Which shall come with an army. This is clearly
incorrect. It may mean "who shall come against the army",
e. g. of Syria 5•
5 See below, philological note.
174 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

7. c) And shall enter into the fortress of the king of

the North. This probably refers to the capture of Seleucia
by Ptolemy Euergetes, recorded in Polyb. v. 58. The Egyptians
held this fortification many years. Ptolemy had attacked Syria
in order to avenge his sister's murder.
7. d) And shall deal with them, e. g. with the Syrians.
8. This verse undoubtedly refers to the spoils carried away
by Ptolemy Euergetes during this war. . The statements made
here are confirmed by the Monumentum Adulitanum, the in-
scription on which is given by Cosmus Indicopleustes in his
Christian topography 6• The Egyptians are said to have given
Ptolemy the title of Euergetes on account of the spoil brought
home from the Syrian campaign.
9. This verse should be rendered: "But he shall come into
the kingdom of the king of the South and shall return into
his own land''. It is probably a reference to the invasion of
Egypt by Seleucus Callinicus who attempted to avenge the
Syrian conquests of Ptolemy ID. Seleucus was unsuccessful,
however, and was compelled to return to his own land.
10. a) His sons shall be stirred up. Tran~late "shall make
war'', e. g. the sons of Seleucus Callinicus. These were Sel-
eucus ID., Ceraunus and his brother who afterwards became
Antiochus ID., the Great.
10. b) And one shall certainly come, etc. Better "And
he (Antiochus III.) shall certaiuly come and overflow and pass
through". The latter expression is probably borrowed' from
Is. viii. 8. Seleucus Ceraunus was killed in Asia Minor after
a two year11' reign. He was succeeded by his brother Anti-
ochus who made war on Ptolemy IV., Philopator, the son and
successor of Ptolemy Euergetes. This verse plainly refers to
the attack of Antio<;)hus ID. against Egypt.
10. c) Then shall he return and be stirred up even to
hie fortress. The subject of the first verb is again Anti-

6
Behrmann, p. 72; also Hitzig, p. 193.
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 175
ochus Ill w~o shall return to the attack after having his army
in garrison all winter at Seleucia (Polyb. v. 66). The last part
of the verse should be translated "and they shall make war
even to his (Ptolemy's) fortress", i. e. the Syrian army shall
advance as far as Raphia, the fortress of Ptolemy about 20
miles southwest of Gaza 7 •
11. a) Although the Syrian king was at first victorious,
Ptolemy eventually defeated him at Raphia, 217 B. C., and
again annexed Palestine to Egypt.
11. b) He shall set forth a great multitude, etc. means
"he (Antiochus) shall raise a great army and the army shall
be given into his (Ptolemy's) hands" 8 • There can be no better
example of the author's ambiguous style in this chapter than
in vv. 10-11.
12. a) And when he had taken away the multitude his
heart shall be lifted up. Translate "And the multitude shall
be taken away and his (Ptolemy's) heart shall be lifted up",
e. g. the army of Antiochus shall be defeated and Ptolemy
shall be unduly elated over his victory.
12. b) But he shall not be strengthened by it. Better
"but he shall not exercise strength". Ptolemy was a weak
and indolent character. Instead of following up his victory
as he could easily have done, he made peace with Antiochus
as soon as possible (cf. Polyb. v. 87).
13. a) For the king of the North shall return, etc. Thir-
teen years after the battle at Raphia, Antiochus Ill. once more
%
invaded the dominion of the Ptolemies with a larger army.
Ptolemy IV., Philopator, had died in the meantime and left an
infant son Ptolemy V., Epiphanes, whose accession seemed to
Antiochus ill. to be a good opportunity to avenge the former
Egyptian triumphs in Syria.
13. b) With much riches. Better "with many weapons".
14:. a) The "many" who are to arise against the king of
7
Cf. Pomp. Trog. prol. I. 30. See, however, Hit,zig who thought
that this fortress was Gaza, the Syrian stronghold. 'So Bevan, p. 179.
176 CRITICAL COMMENT ARY.

Egypt are probably the Egyptian rebels who had revolted

against Ptolemy IV. and who were still in arms against his
young successor.
14. b) The robbers of thy people. Better "sons of the
violent of thy people". This is plainly an allusion to those
Jews who, owing to the harsh treatment which they had
received from Ptolemy IV., were favourably inclined to the
Syrian king 9•
Bevan, following LXX, alters the text here and translates
"those who build up the breaches of thy people", thinking
that the author meant those who aimed at the restoration of
Israel. It is unnecessary to change the ·text, however, to see
that this is probably what the author had in mind. There
must have been a Jewish faction about this time who longed
to throw off the rule of the Ptolemies and who consequently
tried to make use of the Syrian power in order to accomplish
this end, hoping no doubt to become eventually entirely inde-
pendent. The term "sons of the violent", therefore, may mean
the warlike predatory Jews. Kamphausen 10 thinks that this
is a reference to the robber crew of tax contractors and all
their adherents. The whole question is very obscure owing
to our ignorance regarding the history of Israel at this period.
14. c) To establish the vision. The action of these Jews
in siding with the Syrian king, although evil, was necessary
for the fulfillment of the prophecy. That they should fail in
their attempt to attain independence is also quite in accord
with the Divine Will.
15. Cast up a mount, e. g. set up a fortification. This verse
seems to be a continuation of vv. 13-14. Antiochus, after a
war lasting several years, completely conquered the Egyptians
and regained Palestine. The decisive battle was fought at
Mt. Panium with the Egyptian general Scopas who was forced
to take refuge in Sidon and eventually to surrender uncon-

9 Cf. Jos. Ant. xii. 3, 3-4. 10

Dan. p. 40.
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 177
ditionally to Antiochus. Some commentators see in this pas-
sage an allusion to the siege of Sidon by Antiochus.
16. a) He that cometh against him shall do according
to his own will, e. g. Antiochus who comes against Ptolemy
shall act as best pleases himself.
16. b) The glorious land, e. g. of Palestine; see on viii. 9,
p.145.
16. c) Which by his hand shall be consumed. Bertholdt,
changing the vowels, translated "all of which (Palestine) shall
be in his hand". Hitzig "with destruction in his hand". Bert-
holdt's rendering is to be preferred, as Antiochus subdued the
whole land of Palestine.
17. a) He shall also set his face to enter with the strength
of his whole kingdom. Translate "to come with energy into
his (Ptolemy's) kingdom''. Antiochus after the Palestinian cam-
paign shall turn his attention to the subjugation of Egypt
proper, but shall find it more advisable to conciliate his rival
by a treaty.
17. b) And upright ones with him; thua shall he do.
Translate "and he (Antiochus) shall make a compact with him
(Ptolemy)". He accordingly shall give the Egyptian king his
daughter Cleopatra, "the daughter of women", really "the young
woman".
17. c) Corrupting her; perhaps "as a destruction'', e. g.
Antiochus gave his daughter to Ptolemy, aiming thereby to
destroy Ptolemy's kingdom. Von Lengerke suggested that
Antiochus hoped in this way to excite against Ptolemy the
enmity of Rome, but it is much more natural to suppose that
the Syrian king expected to have a constant ally in his daugh-
ter at the court of Egypt who would side against her husband
and with her father.
17. d) But she shall not stand on his side neither be for
him. Cleopatra will not side with her father, whose plans are
not to be successful.
The whole verse should read: "He also shall set his face
Prince, Daniel. 12
178 · CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

to come with energy into his kingdom, .but he shall make

a compact with him; and he shall give him the daughter of
woinen as a destruction, but she shall not avail nor shall she
be for him".
18. a) Unto the isles. Better "the coast-lands". Anti-
ochus III. attacked Asia Minor in 197 B. C. and was at first
quite successful.
18. b) But a prince for his own behalf shall cause the
reproach offered by him to cease. Translate "but a leader
shall cause his insults to cease". This is undoubtedly a ref-
erence to the Roman general Lucius Scipio (Asiaticus) who
thoroughly defeated the forces of Antiochus at Magnesia in
190 B. C. (Livy 37, 39-44).
18. c) Without his own reproach he shall cause it to
turn upon him. This is both incorrect and meaningless. Trans-
late "but he (Scipio Asiaticus) shall pay back to him his in-
sults".
19. Antiochus was eventually killed at Elymais while try-
ing to plundeF the temple of Bel. For "fort", render "strong-
holds".
20. a) Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes
in the glory of the kingdom. Translate "then shall arise in
his place one who as a raiser of taxes shall make the glory
of the kingdom to pass away'\ This verse evidently refers to
Seleucus IV., Philopator, the son of Antiochus II., under whom
the prime minister Heliodorus robbed the Jewish Temple
(2 Mace. iii. 7 ff.). The "raiser of taxes", therefore, is probably
Seleucus who instigated the mission of Heliodorus. As to the
appropriateness of the latter part of the sentence, we niay
refer to Livy's opinion of the reign of Seleucus IV. He de-
scribes his reign as having been an unprofitable one and not
renowned for any deeds 11•
20. b) Within few days. Seleucus reigned 187-178, a

11
Bk. 41, 19.
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 179
period which no doubt seemed brief to the author of Daniel,
in pontrast to the long reign of Antiochus Epiphancs 12•
20. c) Neither in anger nor in battle. Better "not by
violence nor in war''. This must refer to the supposed murder
of Selcucus Philopator. That the author of Daniel believed
Seleucus IV. to have been assassinated by the orders of Anti-
ochus Epiphanes has already been discussed above p. 134.
21. A vile person to whom they shall not give the
honour of the kingdom. i. e. a person who shall not be
regarded as the rightful heir to the kingdom. It is commonly
admitted that this can only be Antiochus Epiphanes who
usurped the throne after the death of his brother Seleucus.
The rightful heir was Demetrius the son of Seleucus who be-
came king after the death of Antiochus' son (162) 13•
The latter pari of the verse "and he shall come in una-
wares and shall seize the kingdom by treachery'' agrees well
with 2 Mace. v. 25 (cf. also viii. 23). The rest of c. xL is
devoted exclusively to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.
22. a) And with the arms of a flood shall they be over-
flown from before him. Translate "And the arms of a flood
shall be swept away from before him", e. g. the anns of Egypt
which had often been like an overwhelming flood against Syria
shall in their turn be swept away from before him. Bevan
believes that this passage refers to the domestic troubles in
the beginning of Antiochus' reign, giving as a reason for his
theory that Egypt is not mentioned until v. 25 and that there-
fore vv. 22-24 constitute a preliminary section and must refer
to the Syrian opposition to Antiochus. H this were so, the
author would hardly have designated the defeated forces of
the Palestinian rebels as "the arms of a flood", whereas such
a term might very readily be used of the formidable Egyptian
army. Bevan, it is true, avoids this difficulty by arbitrarily
altering the text, but there is really no need for such a device.

" So Rosenmiiller. 13 See above p. 134.

12*
 180 CRITICAL COMMEN'fARY.

Vv. 21-24 are without doubt a preliminary paragraph to the

following section treating of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.
The author, therefore, mentions in them in outline the most
important events of that king's reign;. vi?.., his fraudulent
accession, his attacks on Egypt, his murder of Onias and his
plundering propensities. This allusion to Egypt is not of
course a reference to a separate campaign from that described
in vv. 25 ff. 14
22. b) Yea, also the prince of the Covenant. This must
be the Jewish High-priest Onias III. who was assassinated
by the orders of Antiochus about this time. It is not probable
that the author can be alluding to Ptolemy Philometor the son
of Ptolemy Epiphanes, as he would hardly have referred to
a heathen prince in such a way. Furthermore, Ptolemy Philo-
metor was not at that time an ually'' of Antiochus, "a cove-
nanted prince", as some render here.
23, All those who ally themselves with Antiochus shall be
deceived. He shall rise to power by means of a small people,
e. g. a few faithful partisans.
24:. a) The first part of v. 24 should be translated "He shall
enter unawares into the fattest provinces". Some commen-
tators find great difficulty in deciding just what these "fattest
provinces" were. Bevan, for example, considers this translation
to be a misinterpretation of the author's meaning and renders
"He shall attack the mightiest men of each province unawares",
referring to viii. 25. This translation, however, seems to
interrupt the context. The probability is that we have here
a general allusion to the passion of Antiochus for plundering.
The author means to say that the Syrian king always plundered
the richest states. Although Antiochus was a great robber of
temple treasures, he was at the same time very generous (cf.
1 Mace. iii. 30; Livy 41, 20). Polybius also records that the
king presented every Greek at N aukratis with. a piece of gold

H So Hitzig, p. 203.
 CHAPTE}{ ELEVENTH. 181
(28, 17). This trait of character is alluded to here by the
author of Daniel as being different to anything ever before
seen in the Seleucidan house.
24:. b) He shall scatter among them, e. g. among his
followers. The '"strongholds" probably refer to those of the
Egyptians against which Antiochus must have plotted some
time before his invasion.
25. a) Here begins the • account of the first invasion of
Antiochus into Egypt in 170 B. C. The king of the South
here is Ptolemy Philometor, in opposition to whom his younger
brother Ptolemy Euergetes or Physkon was crowned king by
the disaffected Egyptians during the war with Antiochus. There
can be little doubt, however, that Ptolemy Euergetes is not
alluded to here as Hitzig thought (p. 205).
25. b) But he shall not stand. Ptolemy was unsuccessful
against Antiochus Epiphanes, partly because of treachery in
t4e Egyptian ranks. His own people "forecast devices against
him".
26. a) The first part of this verse explains the treachery
of Ptolemy's followers. Portion of his meat should be trans-
lated "dainties". This probably refers to his treacherous
courti{lrs who betrayed him to Antiochus.
26. b) His army shall overflow. Better ushall be swept
away''.
27. a) Ptolemy had now been conquered by Antiochus and
had entered into an alliance with the Syrian against his younger
brother Ptolemy Physkon who had been proclaimed king at
Alexandria. This league, however, based as it was on false-
hood, could not prosper.
27, b) For yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
The end referred to here is the ultimate overthrow of Egypt
and the entire success of the arms of Antiochus who is to be
permitted to stand during an appointed time; evidently not for
long, however, as he was forced to invade the country again
in 169.
182 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

28. a) And his heart shall be against .the Holy Covenant.

After his return from Egypt, Antiochus was enraged against
the Jews because they had deposed the High-Priest Menelaos
whom the Syrian king had appointed in place of Jason, the
successor of Onias III. (c£ 2 Mace. v. 5). Antiochus · con-
sidered this movement to be a rebellion against his authority
and proceeded against the Jews with great cruelty, plundering
Jerusalem and the Temple and massacring many Jews (1 Mace.
i. 20--:-24; 2 Mace. v. 11-21).
28. b) And he shall do exploits and return to his own
~

11;1,nd. Antiochus returned to Antioch after sacking the Temple.

29. a) He shall ....... come towards the South. This
must be an allusion to the third Syrian invasion of Egypt in
168 B. C. Antiochus had made a second attack on that
country in 169' which seems to be passed over in silence by
our author, perhaps because it did not especially concern
the Jews.
29. b} But it shall not be as the form.er or as the latter.
Translate "But it shall not be in the latter as in the former".
These words show clearly which invasion the author had in
mind, because Antiochus was defeated in this third expedition.
Ptolemy Philometor and Ptolemy Physkon had now become ·
reconciled and were united against the common foe.
30. a) The ships of Chittim. The term "Chittim" was used
by the later Jews to denote all the western maritime nations 15•
This must therefore be an allusion to the Roman fleet which
was sent to Egypt under Caius Popilius Lama, in order to
force Antiochus to evacuate the country (cf. Polyb. 29, 11;
Livy 45, 12). The LXX. translate here correctly "Romans".
The Syrian king was unable to resist the combined Egyptian
and Roman armies and was compelled to retreat ignominiously.
30. b) So shall he be grieved, etc. should be translated
"so shall he lose courage and return'', e. g. from Egypt.

1• Jos. Ant. i. 6, I.
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 183
30. c) And have indignation against the Holy Covenant.
Jerusalem was sacked again in 168 by the king's command.
It was at this time that Antiochus began his crusade against
the Jewish religion.
30. d) And he shall return, e. g. from Jerusalem to Antioch,
where he will direct the persecution.
30. e) And have intelligence with them that forsake the
Holy Covenant. The king will be favourable to those Jews
who have been false to their people and beliefs ·(cf. 1 Mace.
i. 11-15; 2 Mace. iv. 11-17).
31. a) And arms shall stand on his part. Better "And
arms sent by him shall prevail". We have here an allusion
to the large army, mentioned 1 Mace. i. 29, which Antiochus
sent to Jerusalem to carry out his wishes. In 2 Mace. v. 24,
the mnnber of troops is given as 22000.
31, b) And they shaHpollute the Sanctuary of strength.
Better "And they shall pollute the Sanctuary, the stronghold".
The sacrilege was done by the Greco-Syrian troops acting
under the orders of Antiochus, with whom a number of rene-
gade Jews were in league. According to 1 Mace. i. 54, a
heathen altar was built on the place of sacrifice in the Holy
of Holies. This profanation took place in 168 B. C. It is
stated in 2 Mace. vi. 2 that the Temple was solemnly dedi-
cated to Zeus a little latei.16• There can be little doubt, there-
fore, that "the desolating abomination" is an allusion to this
act of Antiochus in turning the Temple into a place of hea-
then worship. Whether it is a direct reference to the new
altar itself or merely a general one to the worship of a hea-
then god in Jhvh's Sanctuary is not certain.
32, And such as do wickedly against the Covenant shall
he corrupt by flatteries. Better "he shall make renegades by
specious devices". Th_e king, by flatteries and various wiles,
shall make apostates of those Jews who bring sin upon the

16 Cf. Nestle, Marg. p. 42.

184 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

Covenant, e. g. who were hostile to Jhvh. This class is

contrasted with "the people that do know their God", who
shall not be weakened, but ''shall be strong and do exploits".
The direct opposite to those who do wickedly against the
Covenant is also the class mentioned in :xii. 3 "they that turn
many to righteousness".
33. a) And they that understand among the people shall
instruct many. Translate "And those of the people who have
insight shall cause many to understand", ·e. g. the leaders of
the rebellion against the tyrannies of Antiochus persuaded
many Jews to adhere to the ancient worship and to join them
in their struggle for freedom (1 Mace. ii. 42; vii. 13; 2 Mace.
xiv. 6).
33. b) Yet they shall fall, e. g. the~leaders. The rebellion
proved unsuccessful at first.
34:. With a little help. This may refer to the beginning
of the career of Judas Maccabams whose prospects, however,
did not look especially bright at first. The last sentence
should be translated "but many shall join themselves to thee
treacherously''. Many Jews deserted to the Syrians owing to
the cruelty of the fanatical Hebrew leaders.
35, And some of them of understanding shall fall. The
author gives the reason why the attempt to shake off the
Syrian yoke was permitted to be unsuccessful at first. Jhvh
allows his people to fail, in order "to try them and to make
them white until the time of the end", the time when He shall
see fit to relieve them of their sufferings. Meanwhile, "it is
yet for a time appointed". The pious must wait His will and
pleasure and never falter in their faith.
36. This is a truly Jewish description of the character of
Antiochus (c£ 2 Mace. ix. 12). The Greek historians are
inclined to regard him as a pious man noted for his generous
gifts to Greek temples, although they also relate that he
plundered many local shrines. That a Jewish writer should
regard him as an irreligious monster, however, is by no means
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 185
smprising, owing to the king's intense hostility to the national
Israelitish religion which he believed, not without reason, to
be treasonable against his own authority.
37. a) The God of his fathers. Literally "the gods of
his fathers", e. g. the national Syrian deities whose worship
Antiochus neglected for that of the Olympian Zeus. The king's
chief aim from the very beginning of his career had been to
centralise his empire in every possible way, not only politi-
cally, but also religiously. His disregard of the gods of his
fathers - a strange reproach by the way froni an Israelite -
was probably the effort he made to abolish local usages which
is mentioned 1 Mace. i. 41-42.
37. b) Nor the desire of women. This is evidently some
god. It is probably an allusion, either to the cult of Artemis
or Nanaia at Elymais 17, the temple belonging to which Anti-
ochus attempted to plunder, or else to the widely spread
worship of Tammuz-Adonis who might appropriately be called
uthe desire of women" 18•
37. c) Nor regard any god. Cf. Polyb. 31, 4, who relates
that ~tiochus robbed most of the shrines. This probably
refers, however, to the local cults which the king was trying
to stamp out. The statement that Antiochus did not regard
any god is contradicted by the first sentence in v. 3"8.
38. But in his estate shall he honour the god of
forces. Translate ''But instead thereof he shall honour the
god of strongholds, e. g. in place of these other deities he
shall devote himself exclusively to the worship of the god of
strongholds. 1 The probability is that this is Zeus Polieus whom
Hoffinan 19 considers to have been the family god of the
Seleucidre. The next words, however, which seem to describe
this unknown deity as the god whom his fathers 'knew not,
appear to preclude such a theory. The deity alluded to may
17 Cf. Appian b. Syrus, 66. See also 2 Mace. i. 13, where it is stated
that Antioch us met his death there. 18
See Bevan, p. 196; also
Ezek. viii. 14 and ZDMG. xvii. pp. 397 ff. 19
See Behrmann, p. 79.
186 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

indeed be Zeus Polieus, but the author could not have thought
him to be, the family god of Antiochus. The allusions in this
verse and the next are extremely obscure, partly because of
the text and partly perhaps because of the author's ignorance
of the facts.
39. a) The first sentence of this verse is by no means
as unintelligible as Bevan considered. It should probably be
translated "And he shall carry this out against the most im-
pregnable strongholds with (in aid of) a strange god", e. g. he
shall carry out the course of action mentioned in v. 38, that
of honouring the god of strongholds with gold and silver, etc.,
and shall accomplish this by plundering the most impregnable
temple strongholds of their treasures, in order to devote them
to his favourite deity. This is to be done with "in support
of'' 20 this god. There seems to be a play on the word "strong-
hold" here.
39. b) Whom he shall acknowledge and increase with
glory is probably incorrect. This sentence together with the
rest of the verse should be rendered "Those whom he favours
he shall honour greatly and he shall cause them to ,rule
over many and shall divide the l~d for gain". Andochus,
after plundering the local shrines in order to honour Zeus,
shall aid and advance his own favourites, possibly the rene-
gade Jews, making them governours of provinces. Finally, he
shall seize and sell for his own profit the land of the pious
Jews who have rebelled against his authority.
40-4:3. These verses are probably no longer an historical
compendium of events in the author's past, but ,set forth his
hopes and expectations for the future. This section clearly
alludes to another Egyptian campaign under Antiochus Epi-
phanes which, must be subsequent to 168 B. C., the latest
year of the events described in the preceding verses. Authen-
tic history, however, makes no mention of such an attempt.

00
See below philological note.,
 CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 187
Porphyrius, it is true, states that Antiochus made war: again
on Egypt in about 165 and refers Dap. xi. 40-3 to this last
campaign, .but it is highly improbable that such an attempt
was ever made. .Antiochus had been thoroughly defeated dur-
ing his third Egyptian campaign by the Roman general Po-
pilius Lama and Egypt was under the protection of Rome
at the time when this supposed last expedition took. place.
The conquest of Egypt_ mentioned in these verses is evi-
dently regarded by the author as being an impQrtant one and,
if it were historical, would certainly have been mentioned by
· some writers. The silence of all authors except Porphyrius
concerning it forces us to conclude, therefore, that we have
here an incorrect.prediction by the author of Daniel who must
have expected another Syrian atte:inpt against Egypt. Hitzig's
idea that vv. 40.-5 refer to events previous to 168, in fact
that they are a resume of the chief occm:rences of the reign
of .Antiochus from 171 until his death, is quite contrary to
the evident sense of the passage.
40. At the time of the end. What follows must plainly
be subsequent to the time of the end mentioned in v. 35
which is used of the end of the period of persecution. The
author clearly thought, therefore, that there was to be another
Egyptian campaign aft.er 168 ; viz., the one described in these
verses.
41 . .Antiochus sweeps through Palestine, "the glorious
land" 21•
And many countries shall be overthrown. Translate
"and ten thousands of people shall be overthrown"; cf. v. 12.
_The second part ·of v. 41 contains a bitterly sarcastic
· allusion. Edom, Moab and Ammon are to escape from the
wrath of Antiochus, because they are the enemies of Israel.
Edom and Ammon helped .Antiochus against the Jews (1 Mace.
iv. 61; v. 3-8) and would naturally be spared from his depre-

21 Of. on v. 16 and p. 145.

188 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

dations. Moab was probably still in existence as a tribe in

Maccabrean times and need not be regarded as a re~scence
from the older writings 22• The Moabites probably did not
disappear until the third Christian century when they became
absorbed by Arab tribes 2 3 •
43. a) Precious things. Literally "hidden things".
43. b) The Libyans and the Ethiopians. Not only Egypt
proper, but the outlying peoples shall be subjugated by Antio-
chus.
44. Tidings out of the East and out of the North. Antio-
chus is supposed to be in Egypt, so that the author must have
meant by this that the king should hear bad news from Pal-
estine, most probably concerning the triumphs of the Jews
and their recovery of Jerusalem. Such an event would natu-
rally enrage him, so that he would' "go forth (e. g. £roin Egypt)
with great fury'', in order to take vengeance.
45. The tabernacles of his palace, e. g. his palace tents.
The infuriated Syrian king shall pitch his royal tent "between
the seas and the mount l)f glorious holiness"; viz., between
the Mediterranean and Mt. Zion 24, but this time "he shall come
to his end and none shall help him''. Thus shall the people
be avenged and the time of their tribulations cease. Antio-
ehus really died in Persia in 164. This is not indicated here,
because these chapters must have been written some time be-
fore his death. The author therefore gives no details, but
contents himself with the general prediction that the persecuting
king shall be overthrown.
22 See Bevan, p. 199 and cf. 2. Chron. xx. 1; 2 where all three

nations are mentioned as enemies of Jehosaphat. 28 Behrmann, p. 80.

H The sense of the passage necessitates this interpretation. The ref-

erence must he to· the Mediterranean and Palestine and certainly not
to the Persian Gulf at Elymais as Havernick thought. For other views,
cf. Hitzig, v. Lengerke, Behrmann, Bevan, etc.
 CHAP'l'ER TWELFTH.· 189

CHAPTER TWELFTH.
The twelfth chapter of Daniel is really not a distinct sec-
tion, but is merely a continuation of C. xi. This last division
of the Book falls naturally into three paragraphs : - The
concluding paragraph of the angel's announcement, 1-3; the
angel's last word, 4; the Epilogue, 5-13.
1. a) At that time, e. g. at the time of the fall of Antio-
chus, prophesied xi. 45.
1. b) Shall Michael stand up. The guardian of Israel
(xi. 13; 21) shall arise to protect his people.
1. c) And there shall be a time of trouble, etc. Cf. Joel
ii. 2. What this trouble is to be is not stated, but the author
probably had in mind an attack against Jerusalem by a com-
bination of heathen nations (cf. Zech. xiv. 2ff.)1. Hitzig thought
that the idea of this passage was based on Jer. xxx. 7.
1. d) Written in the Book, c. g. in the Book of Lire, in
which arc recorded the names of the Just who are to enjoy
the coming Messianic kingdom.
2. This verse is the earliest passage in the 0. T. which
plainly teaches the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead 2,
but not of all the dead. The "many of them that sleep in
the dust of the earth" are in all probability only the Israelites.
No mention is made of the resurrection of the other nations,
probably because the author did not believe in eternal life for
the heathen. The resurrection of all human beings, however,
is prophesied in Enoch xxii. which was written at a period
when the idea of a general resurrection had become more
widely spread among the Jews. 'The purpose of the writer of
Daniel in this passage seems to be to show his readers that
the deeds of the Israelites are to be rewarded in a future life
according to their merits. In this state the pious are to have

1 Cf. Beva.n, p. 201. • See a.hove, p. 21.

190 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

"everlasting liic" 3, e. g. a liie of eternal bliss, while the rene-

gades and enemies of the cult of Jhvh shall "awake to shame
and everlasting contempt". The same division into good and
bad Israelites is seen also xii. 3.
3. a) They that be wise. These are the same as "those
who have insight'' mentioned xi. 33, e. g. leaders among the
people.
3. b) They that turn many to righteousness who are
thought of here in parallelism with. "those who have insight"
are the direct opposite -of "those who do wickedly against the
Covenant" in xi. 32. For the idea of turning to righteousness
or justifying, cf. Is. liii. 11. These leaders of the people are
to be especially glorified in the future life.
4. a) This verse should be compared with viii. 26. "The
Book" here in all probability refers to the entire work and
not, as some have supposed, only to this last vision x.-xii. As
in viii. 26, this injunction to keep the vision secret is merely
•
a literary device to explain to the readers of Daniel why the ·
Book was not known before their time. It evidently did not
occur to the author that Daniel was quite powerless to "shut
up the words and seal the Book". There was of course no
way by which the Prophet could have. kept such a vision
hidden from immediate posterity until the Maccabrean period,
here designated ds the time of the end. Although this is per-
fectly clear to the modern reader, it is probable that such a
difficulty would never occur to the less accurate Oriental mind,
so that the author's careless statement in this passage was
quite sufficient to account to his readers for the appearance
of Dauiel's visions centuries after they were revealed.
4:. b) Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall
be increased. Translate "Many shall search it (the Book)

the ,w~
• This expression occurs only here in the 0. T. It is identical with
alwvioi; of the N. T. It must be carefully distinguished from
the "life for evermore" of IJi cxxxiii. -3 which simply means eternal life
for Israel; cf. Bevan, p. 201.
 CHAPTER TWELFTH. 191

diligently and knowledge shall be increased", e. g. the visions

herein recorded are to be kept hidden until the time of the
end, when they shall be studied by many pious Jews who will
thus increase their knowledge of the Divine will. The various
opinions regarding this somewhat obscure passage are discussed
below.
5. Other two. Two more angels in addition to the one
already speaking, perhaps Gabriel and Michael. The necessity
for the appearance of two other angels is explained by v. 7,
where the oath of the speaking angel is recorded. Two wit-
nesses were necessary to make an oath binding; cf. Dent.
xix. 15 4•
6. a) And one said. Better "and he said". The identity
of the speaker is not clear, but he is evidently one of the
two angels mentioned in v. 5. LXX., 0 and V. all render
here "and I said" which is clearly a careless error. Daniel
takes no part in the dialogue, but is merely a witness; cf.
viii. 13, where an angel and not Daniel asks the same question
as that given here.
6. b) Upon the waters of the river. Cf. viii. 16, where
the speaking angel is "between the (banks of the) Ulai", e. g.
standing on the water.
7. a) The speaking angel is made to swear by "Him that
liveth for ever'' that the end of this epoch of trial and perse-
cution is to be for "a time, times and a half (a time)". ·This
is of course merely a confirmation of vii. 25. These three
years and a half are to begin with the abolition of the daily
offering of Antiochus; cf. v. 11.
7. b) And when He shall have accomplished to scatter
the power of the Holy People, all these things shall be
finished. Translate "And as soon as the overthrow of the
power of the Holy People is completed, {then) all these things
shall be completed''. As soon as Israel's very existence seems

' Bevan's suggestion, p. 214.

192 CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

about to be wiped out, then shall the period of trial and

chastisement be at an end. As Behrmann aptly puts it, God's
help is nearest when the need is greatest. No passage in the
whole Book illustrates better the author's purpose and there
is none that shows more clearly the position of the Jews at
the time when the work was written.
8-9. And I heard, but I understood not. The preceding
words would have been perfectly clear to any Jewish reader
of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, but the author makes
Daniel say this, in order to lead up to the following question
"How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" The
angel's answer "Go thy way, Daniel, etc." shows that the
Babylonian Prophet was not intended to understand the reve-
lation. He was merely the witness whose testimony was to
be "sealed up" until the time was ripe. The absurdity of a
detailed revelation of this character being made to an indi-
vidual who lived centuries before the prophecies were to be
fulfilled seems never to have occurred to the author.
10. None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise
shall understand. This is probably a generalization without
any direct reference to understanding the time of the end. The
wicked Israelites have no light and hence act without guidance,
but the wise, e. g. ''those who have insight (xi. 35)", being
led by Jhvh, cannot go astray.
11. A thousand two hundred and ninety days. These
1290 days express in more exact figures the three years and
a half of v. 7. Every third year it was customary to add to the
calendar a thirteenth interealary month, so that 3 1/2 years here
would be equivalent to 43 months, each of 30 days, making
a total of 1290 days 5•
12. The thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days. The happy period to which the author was referring
was, in all likelihood, still in the future for him. That the

6 See Behrmann, p. 83,

 CHAPTER TWELFTH. 193

"time, times and a half" probably alludes to the restoration

of the Jhvh cult in Jerusalem has already been mentioned 6• It
is not known, however, what event the author had in mind
when he specified this longer period of 1335 days which we
may presume began at the same time as the 1290 days. He
seems to have meant to indicate that 45 days after the close
of the 1290 days (1335-1290 =
45) the supreme consumma-
tion of Israel's hope, possibly the freedom of Jhvh's people
and their establishment as the Messiah-nation, was to be re-
alised.' That vv. 11-12 are interpolating glosses, or that v. 12
is a correcting gloss to v. 11 is highly unlikely.
13. a) The interpretation of this ven;e is extremely difficult.
But go thou thy way till the end be, Literally "Go thou
until the end". The most reasonable interpretation of the
passage is to suppose that this is a reference to the end of
the Prophet's life 7 • Daniel is told to pursue his own course
until the natural end of his life shall come.
13. b) For thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end
of days. Better "And thou shalt rest and arise unto thine in-
herited portion at the end of the days". Daniel after living
his holy life in Babylon and Susa, is to rest in the grave and
rise from the dead with the other Israelites in the final resur-
rection mentioned in v. 3, when he shall have his rightful share
as an heir in the hoped-for spiritual Messianic kingdom.

6
See p. 140. 7
See, however, Hitzig, ~evan and Behrmann.

1'l'ince, Danial, 13
 PART THIRD.

PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

CHAPTER I.
1. .,~ll(t:;~::i;. The original Babylonian form of the name 1s
Nabu-kudurri-ur;;ur "Nebo (god of recorded wisdom) protect
the boundaries" (e. g. of the kingdom). The great king is called
nar;;ir kudurreti "protector of the boundaries" (V. R. 55, 5),
most probably in paronomasia with his name. This seems
better than to consider kudurri in this name to be the word
for the royal head-dress 1, found I. R. 49, col. iv. 10-ff.
The more correct Hebrew form .,~ll(.,,::i~::il with., 2, which corre-
sponds to theNaflovXOO(!O<JO(!Of; ofAbydenus and theNafloxooeo-
tlO(!Of; of Strabo, docs not occur at all in Daniel, where the name
is always found as .,~_11~~::i~, with the original , sharpened to j.
A similar interchange of-, and i is seen in the Heh. tl'l~U.,= Aram.
=
i".,t1; Heh. j::i =
Aram. i::i; cf. also Heh. .,.,m:;, Arab. 'atMl\
Only in this passage of Daniel do we find an ll( inserted after
the second j.
3. i. Tl~"i!lll( (V. Ashpenez, 0 '.Aacpavi~) is evidently a very
corrupt form of some Babylonian name. The LXX. has ':AfliwoeL
and the Syr.-Hex. .,,:;,.,:ill(. Delitzsch identifies this with the tribal
1 So Flemming, Neb. pp. 22~3. See also Meinhold, Dan. pp. 28_:30.
2 Found Jer. xxi. 2 ~ xxvii. 5, and from xxix. 21 to the end, as well
as everywhere in Ezra. Elsewhere in the 0. T. the name occurs in the
form .,!:l:l'l:l~::ll. 3
Also in Sumerian Unug- Urtlk, Lehmann, J. H. U.
p.
Circ., iii." 33; Hommel, ZK. ii. pp. 102 ff.
13*
196 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

name T):iu,~ of Jer. li. 27 which appears in the inscriptions as

Asgunza-Asguza 4 • Although such a supposition is possible,
it does not seem likely that the name of a tribe which had
no connection with Babylon should have been applied, even
in the confhsed traditions of the Maccabman period, as a
distinctively Babylonian proper name. The final ., seen in the
Syriac form, the (! in the Greek version, as well as the general
appearance of the name in M. and 0 suggest the possibility
that all these forms are corruptions of an original name ending
in -u9ur; perhaps, Jstar-apal-u9ur "!star (goddess of love)
protect the son'' 5 • An exact counterpart of such a name is
Nabu-apal-u9ur "Nebo protect the son", the name of the father
of Nebuchadnezzar who was the first independent king of the
second Babylonian empire.
3. ii. The use of :i-, instead of ,w in the expression 1•'0•"1'0 :i-i
is a characteristic late Hebraism; cf. 2 K. xxv. 8; Jer. xxxix.
3; 13 6• '0•~9 = 'O"':'Ji;l always means "eunuch" in the 0. T. The
meaning of the stem is probably "to be impotent''.
3. iii. c•~!i"iD is a loanword from the 0. P. fratama "first" 7 •
<l. i. :!'"!~ "knowledge" is a late Hebraism only found in
2 Chron. i. 10; xi. 12; Dt. i. 4; 17. In Eccles. x. 20 it means
''consciousness". The Aram. form of this word ,,~'? has given
8
the name to the Mandrean or Gnostic sect •
· 4. ii. c•"lw:i is in all probability a derivative from kasadu
and means "conquerors". It appears in Bab. as Kaldi = Kasdi.
4. iii. '!:i:::i•n is a Bab. loanword, commonly used in Hebrew
to denote "palace" or "temple". The word is probably not
Semitic, but seems to have been borrowed by the first Semitic
invaders of Babylonia. from the Sumerian combination e-gal
"big house". It was known to the Hebrews as early as the
time of Amos, the eighth century B. C. (cf. Amos viii. 3).
4 Bar and Delitzsch, Lib. Dan., p. ix. 0 Lenormant suggests

that the original was it~:iwt:-t "goddess protect (sic) the seed" (Div. p.
182). • Winckler's derivation of o•io :i, from the .Assyr. rab sa ris
7
is not satisfactory (U.AG. p. 138). Lag., Arm. stud. § 2289. 8
Nol-
tleke, Mandaischc Gr. p. xx.
\
 CHAPTER I. 1,97
5. i. :.::i-ri.i 1s a loanword from the 0. P. patibaga, the ex-
act meaning of which is not clear 9 • The Greek 11:odfJa§tr,;,
Athen. xi. 9. 503, and the Syriac j~.:i~ are variations of the
same word. 'J)e co1Tect translation is probably "dainty'. ThP
word is written with maqqeph because the first syllable sug-
gested the familiar r,;:i "piece, portion."
5. ii. ~"!till" "they 8hould stand".
6. i. 1;il)l.,~"! "God is my ,Tudge"; written 1;,l)l~"! in Ezekiel (xiv.
14; 20; xxviii. 3). Also 1;,l)l,., in Palmyrene, Vog. p. 93.
6. ii. 1;il)lW"ti is a regular Hebrew name like Hananiah and
Azariah. It probably means "Who is as God is?" It is found
also Ex. vi. 22; Lev. x. 4; N eh. viii. 4.
7, i. "\::tl)lW,h::i, written '1::£\l>l)l.:1;,::i, x. i. The author of Daniel
evidently regarded the first syllable of this word as containin?:
the name of the god "Bel" (cf. Dan. iv. 5; "~?~ c~~). It iti
now generally recognized that this name is a corruption of
the Assyrian Balafsu-urur, ''protect his life" 10, probably an
abbreviation for Bel-balatsu-urur "Bel protect his life". While
it is true that we would rather expect to find tl instead of i
in the biblical form "\::£1)lui"1:i::i, rep.resenting an originals sound;
i. c. Balatsu-u9ur, it is possible that in Babylonian the form
of the name may have been Balafafo-u9ur with s. In addition
to this, it should not be forgotten that the name was probably
strongly influenctd by the similar sounding Belshazzar 11 . Gcorg
Hoffmann's reading, ZA. ii. 56, Balaf-sar-ugur "Balat preserve
the king" does not seem admissible. He sees in Balat the
name of a god, Saturn, and compares Sanballat, which is
clearly a comiptiou of Sin-uballit, "Sin {the moon-god) has
made him live". The Bola.:h1v of Phot, Bihl. c. 242, quoted
by Hoffmann, is probably not Balat, The pasimge as he giYcs
it is as follows: <Doi.vtxer,; xai. ~V(!Ol 7:0V KeovoJJ "H). xai. B~Jc

• Lag., Ges. Abh. p. 73. 10 Opp. Doc. Jur. p. 282; Schrader, KAT.•

p. 429; Fried. Del. in Bar a:nd DeL, Lib, Dan. pp. ix. x, 11 Del., Assyr.

Gr.?· 171.
198 l'HlLOLOGlCAL COMMEN'rAlff.

XC!l Bo1,a:trp1 e:n:ovoµasovfJt. The writer may have mistaken

BoJ,a:t71v for the name of a male divinity.
7. ii. 7"l-i\:i seems to be a corruption of a Babylonian word.
It may either be for sudurakku "one endowed with the power
of commandJJ or, for sadraku "I command", the pennansive
of sadaru. Fried. Delitzsch suggests that it is a variation of
Sudur-Aki "command of the Moon-god''(?) 12•
7, iii. iui.,~. This name seems like a corruption of some
original Babylonian form, but no satisfactory explanation of
it has yet been suggested.
7. iv. i;J ,:i, has long been recognized as· a corruption of
,:i:i ,:i, "the servant of Nebo" (c£ llI. R. 46, c. 1, 82, where
the name actually occurs in a bilingual inscription, Assyrian
and Aramaic; KAT. 2 p. 479). The form abdu for (<servant"
is rare in Assyrian, but sometimes occurs in proper names like
.Abdimilik. The ordinary word is ardu. Bevan has called at-
tention to the fact, that for some time after the Christian era
the name i:i:i ,:i, was borne by heathen Syrians (p. 61 ).
8. ,t-t::.n.,. ,tot; in the sense of "defile" is a by-form of :in The
ordinary expression is t-t~~-
10. i. :-,~; '1\llt-t for '1est" is an Aramaism (cf'. Ezra vii. 23);
also Syr. ~.!.; 1 3.
10. ii. C"'El'T "haggard"; like f1Ki:J,qw:n:or,; in Matth. vi. 16. The
p1;imary meaning of the stem '9l'T is "to be violent'' (c£ Ar.
za'afa, and Pr. xix. 3; 2 Chr. xxvi. 19 "to be ·angry at"). The
original force is seen in the late Hebrew phrase 9::T ;u, i'i"'l:'I"'~ "a
violent death''; also Aram. t-t!ll'T "violent wind or storm". The
application of the word in Daniel to denote an unhealthy ap-
pearance is probably a later extension of the usage found in Gn.
xl. 6, where it signifies "to appear sad or disturbed in mind''.
10, iii. ,.,; "generation" for the classical ,,, is a later Hebrew
developement common in the Rabbinical language 14 •
10. iv. cl"l:i"'n from :i,n is undoubtedly a late Hebraism. In
12
Del., Lib. Dan. p. xii. 13
Noldeke, Syr. Gr. § 273. 14
Levy,
Hebr. Worterbuch, p. 324•.
 CHAPTER I. 199
the Rabbinical idiom the stem seems to mean "to be subor-
dinate", hence "to be bound or guilty". It does not occur in
the 0. T. except in Ez. xviii. 7, where, however, it is probably
to be read :1,m, with Cornill.
11 . .,:s,r.:i "guardian" (0 'AµBMarJ; V. Malasar) is most prob-
ably a corruption of the Assyrian mar{Xiru 15 "a watchman'' or
"guardian'' from nararu "watch, guard" (c£ ma~rar ~ibitti "the
guardian of the prison", V. R. 13. 15ff.). The, in "'l:s:ir.:i prob-
ably merely indicates resolution of the doubling of the l'·
Th~ LX:X. render 'Aflteuo,Ji, which in v. 3 is the equivalent
of the proper name miw~.
12. t:l"~-i.1 is an irregular form of :;~"'1'.r "that which is sown",
c. g. "garden herbs" (c£ Is. lxi. 1). In v. 16, the form O"~S'"I~
is probably a diminutive of this word. A similar example of
the ending j1• in this sense is ,,~,~ "the pupil of the eye; a
little man". Bevan compares w,r.:ip and 1iu.,r.:ip, p. 62 16 •
13. t'l~")l:' is the Aramaic punctuation for t'l~')l:1,
15. ~"'"l:l "stout, well nourished" from K'"l:l or t'l"'l:l. The Assyr.
"baru, pres. ibirri (Rm. 2, 139 obv.) "to be hungry'', e. g. "to
desire to eat", is undoubtedly a cognate of this stem. Deri-
vatives from this Assyr. stem are biru "hungry" and birutu
"hunger". Jager's translation of the pl. bariuti by ''fat'' 17, on
the analogy of Heb. ~""'l:l is inexact. The meaning of the
Assyr. word seems always to be "hungry".
For "'IW:l "~""'l:J, cf'. Gn. xli. 2; 18: '"IW:l f'\iK"'"l:l.
20, i. rw,-. "'l'.!l:ll "ten times", cf'. Gn. xliii. 34; 2 Sam. xix. 44.
The ordinary word for "time", used in counting, was tlll!l, Josh.
vi. 3; 1 Kings xxii. 16, etc.
For ',:, in the sense of "more than", cf. xi. 5; Eccl. i. 16.
This usage has an exact parallel in the Assyrian cognate eli:
eli maxre ttttir "more than before I increased it'', I. R. Tig.
c. vii. 86; eli sarrani abia "more than the kings my fathers",
I. R. Sarg. Cyl. 48.
15 See Del., Lib. Dan. p. xi. 16 See Kamphausen, p. 15, on this
word. 17 BA. ii. p. 304.
200 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENT ARY.

20. ii. C"i.Jt.i""in from a sg. c:.11r:, with the formative suffix
c,· as in c,.,.,. The word is probably a derivative from t.i'lj
"a pen".
20. iii. c"E1Vi:tn. Simple asyndeton; omission of the , as in
ii. 27; 45; v; 15.
The original form was the ptc. asipu "one who makes in-
cantation" (II. R. 32, 11;' 38, 2; fem. asiptum, IV. R. 57, 42a;
essepu "an incantation", ASKT. 75, 2). The word essepu which
seems to be used of a sort of wailing bird, IV. R. 1, col. i.
20-1, appears to confirm this idea: essepu sa ina ali isaggamu
"the essepu which wails in the city" ..

CHAPTER II.
1. i. The words ,n,, c!l'EMM and v. 3, .,r,,, cl'!!Mi were probably
suggested by Gen. xli. 8. The first form occurs only in Daniel.
1. ii. , ..;!\! r,r,-,:,!) IMlW G and 0: o Vn:JJO~ aln:ov l,yever:o arc
m}wv; V. somnium ejus fugit ab eo. Haupt suggests the
rendering "and his dream weighed upon him", translating niw
by "dream", on the analogy of the Assyrian suttu (suntu), and
regarding :,r,-,:,i as having the same meaning as if it were QaI 1•
This would necessitate, however, attributing a signification to
:-iiw which it does not have in Hebrew, besides straining the
sense of the Niphal, which in this construction would naturally
mean "to happen, to befall" 2• };urthennore, if Haupt's idea
be adopted, the text of yi. 19 would have to be altered ac-
cordingly, where we read in Aramaic: "hi1;,:i, M':l~ :,r,iw, with the
per£ of ,,i. This is plainly the Aramaic equivalent of ·our
passage in ii. As the translation "is past'' or "over'' for nM"iil
is very doubtful and has been questioned by many, it is not
impossible that the text of ii. 1 may be corrupt and that the
correct reading is ,.,;!I' n,1~ ,riiw, "and his sleep departed (fled)
1
Kamphausen, p. 16. 2 Cf. Neh. vi. 8; Dt. iv. 32; Ju. xix. 30;
Pr. xiii. 19.
 CHAPTER II. 201
from him", with the same idea for ,.,, as in 1P xxxi. 12; lv.
8, etc. 3
For this use of ';,~\ cf. iv. 33; x. 8; Jon. ii. 8. It is prob-
ably ·a developement of the primary idea "over upon", inherent
both in ';,:;, and in the Assyr:. eli. "To flee" or "pass over'' a
person is to omit or except him, and we actually find eli used
for "except'' in Asurb. vi. 4: nakru sanamma eli iasf, '·no
other foe except me".
2, c"~lll~i:i "reciters of incantations" from ;i\!J::i which is a
well ~own stem in Babylonian, e. g. kasapu "to be-ivitch";
cf. atti sa .tukassipinni "o thou ,vitch who bewitchest me",
IV. R. 50, 47b; also V. R. 45, c. iv. 52, etc. The stem seems
to have been a common one in the Hebrew of all periods
from Ex. xxii. 17 until the Mishna. It is curious that the
verb appears only in the Pi'el in Hebrew. In Assyrian, how-
ever, although it is more usual in the Intensive, it appears
occasionally in the Qal; IV. R. 49, 38-9 b. The Hebrew deri-
vatives ::r~~ "incantation" and =,If; "conjurer" have exact equi-
valents, both in fonn and meaning, in the Assyr. kispu and
kassapu, fem. kassaptu.
Robertson Smith's theory that the primary meaning of the
stem is "to cut", e. g. ''to prepare magical decoctions of herbs"
has no foundation in fact. The word, like the stem ::,wi:-t, prob-
ably refers to the peculiar tone of mice affected by the con-
jurers when reading their mysterious forn~ul:=e (see above on
i. 20 iii).
4. i. 7.,,:i:;-. For the elision of the ., in the Q"re, see Kamp-
hausen, p. 16.
4. ii. ~-iw~ "interpretation"; cf'. Heb. ,1!l~ Eccl. viii. 1. This
stem has an exact cognate in the Assyr. pa!,aru "to loosen,
free"; IV. R. 56, 23; also Arabic 7.,,,,j. The expressions suttu
pasaru "to interpret a dream", ASKT. p. 205; sunata pasaru

3
This and viii. 27 are the only passages where t"l"t"ll. could be trans-
lated "is past, finished" or fainted"; see below p. 245.
202 PI-:IlLOLOC:.CICAL COMMENTARY.

"to interpret dreams", HNE. p. 6; 44 show a precisely similar

usage to the Aramaic word.
-The Hebrew cognate ji"l~~ "inteipretation" must be a loanword
from some dialect where the w was lisped as a t, £_
4:. iii. M}T:.,l read n.~IJl; sec Kamphausen, p. 17.
5. i.1 For 1:-l""iW~, see Kautzseh, Gr. p. 28; Kamphausen, p.
17; also ZA. ii. p. 275; BA. ii. p. 489.
5. ii. nn,r.i with n is a Hebraism.
5. iii. i:-t"iTi:-t is a Persian loanword, equivalent in meaning to
n:i.,:::i:•, vi. 13. The correct translation of 1:-tiTi:-t "~r.i :,r-,1::,,:i is "the
thing is fixed" or. "determined by me". The word should be
pointed 1:-t,!1:!, not 1:-t;Jl;t, as if it were a participial form from a
supposed stem "111:-t 5•
5. iv. i,,:i:;,t,t, j"r.lit"t "ye shall be cut in small pieces". P. re-
duplicates here: :.o?o, :.O?m- The word is a loanword from the
Persian; cf. modern Pers. andam "limb". ji,:i:v!"iri with Raphe
to show that the form is not Ethpe'el.
5~ v. .,';,,i. The i-ending is probably a relic of the old
genitive case; cf. Ezra vi. 11: ~;,, which plainly shows the
nominative. The word may be a cognate of the Heh. ,:i~ ('to
wither, decay"; cf. Job xiv. 18, and ti?;l corpse, as well as
of the Assyr. nabalu "to destroy", seen in the common ex-
prcsssion abbul, aqqur, ina isati asrup '(I destroyed, I devast-
ated, with fire I burned". We have a similar interchange of
:i and , in :i:1 and i:1; cf. Ezek. xxiii. 35; 1 Kings xiv. 9.
5. vi. jir.iwr.i: is Ethpe'el formed on the analogy of an
Ettaphal; cf. 0wr.i.,, Ezra. iv. 21; 0wr.ir.i Ezra v. 8 6•
6, i. i:-t:iT:il, also in T. Jer. xl. 5 7 ; Dt. xxiii. 24. It is prob-
ably a Persian loanword, perhaps from the Old Persian ni-
baj-va "gift" 8• Bar and Ginsburg point it i:-t:i~~l in v. 17, q. v.

4
Cf. Haupt, B.A.. i. p. 181. • So Bar, Lib. Dan. p. vi. who makes
the same error in iii. 16. The word is a derivative from the 0. P.
azda "sure" according to Noldeke (Schrader, Cun. Inscr. p. 430). 6
See
Noldeke, Syr. Gr. § 159. 7 According to Lagarde, j:11.,~r.i, 1~l"\~. 8
So
Haug, Ew. Jahrb. 1853 p. 160_.
 CHAPTER 11. 203

6. ii. '1)'" means in Hebrew both "precious" and ('honourable",

but only "honour" in Aramaic. '1"1'", however, signifies "hard,
difficult"; Dn. ii. 11.
6. iii. iti:i "therefore", as in ii. 9; iv. 24 and in Heb. Ruth
i. 13. There is no reason for translating it '(only", as Bevan
suggests (p. 69).
8. .,, !:i:.p :i:i will bear the translation "although" as in v. 22.
9. i. 1i::iri,. ri, is undoubtedly a loanword from the Old Persian
data "justice"; mod. Pers. dad, which is treated as a feminine
in Aramaic owing to the final n. r-,, means ."religious law",
vi. 6.
9. ii. ti:i,:i is nom. app., and not an adjective.
9. iii. ~t"l"t'IW "corrupt''; "low"; cf. vi. 5, is cognate ,vith the
Assyr. saxtu "humble" 9, written also saxfu with ~ by partial
assimilation to the preceding r,; cf. I. R. Nglr. i. 25. The stem
is saxatu "to let down", I. R SPml. c. iii. 77, from which
we have also sixtu "something torn down"; sixat epiri ''torn
down masses of earth", I. R. 52. nr. 4. 16a.
9. iv. 1,n~r.in,; Q•re i,n,r.i,m Hithp. is better, because it ex- .
presses more accurately the idea "try to agree among your-
selves". The original meaning of the verb in the Qal is "to
buy", but in the Pac.cl "to sell".
9. v. ,,,~ for :ii,~, cf. ~:,,,r.i for ti::,,r.i, verse 21. This reso-
lution of a doubling by the insertion of a nasal is not peculiar
to Aramaic alone, but occurs also in Hebrew; c£ Eccl. viii.
5; iJf ix. 21; 'ff xix. 3, and in Assyrian, as in inambu, runibu,
for inabbu, rubbu 10•
10. i. "t"\~ "There is." Before suffixes it often occurs in the
form t"\"~i see Kautzsch, op. cit. p. 125. It was origiually a
substantive of the stem V t"\", cognate with the Hebrew bicon-
sonantal noun \!i~, a formation like j;, "son", caj, "name", and
the Assyrian -isu ~ - The form "t"\~ with final ., is a second-
ary dcvelopement from the noun, with the addition of •. •ni:-t
comes from an original yaty ("n"), the construct state of which,
" With ri, I. R. 52, nr. 4, 3a. 1
° Cf. ZA. v. p. 395; Sfg. p. 22.
204 PHILOLOGICAL COMMEN'fARY.

"lJ;, was pronounced "'!J"'~ ("'lJ~) in Aramaic, initial ., becoming,

as always,, i. The Syriac form itkya "being"-i-o ov, is prob-
ably a form with a denominal Nisbe, as for example in f;•giifsya.
The triradical stem ending in ., is found in the Assyrian wrb
isu "to have"; y.,lli.,. In Assyrian the original short form isu,
mentioned above as corresponding to tv" and :'"l"lll, occurs, for
example, Nimrod Epic, 13. 3; 5. 37, etc. ·similar bi.consonantal
forms are nouns like saptu "lip"; daltu "door"; ilu "God";
binu "son"; bintu "daughter", etc. The negative of Syriac
Uk is la)ith contracted from la +
Uk. A similar contraction
is found in the well known Arabic - ~ (the only form of this
stem preserved in Arabic), and in Assyrian lasu = +
la ·isu 11 •
· 10. ii. ,;i~., is undoubtedly a Hebraism. The purely Aramaic
form '~: occurs in iii. 29; also v. 16 ,~~!71-
10. iii. 1?12. is the pure Hebrew form, instead of lll::i,~. Bevan,
however, expresses a doubt as to whether such segholate for-
mations in Aramaic may_ not be permissible (p. 71) 12 •
11. ih' here means ('except", as in iii. 28; vi. 6, 8, 13; not
"therefore" as in v. 9.
12. i. c::::. is ana§ leyoft(3JIOJI. It occurs in T. in the form
till,. Behrmann rightly rejects the reading here as incorrect
and reads cQ; "was displeased'\ a cognate of the Assyrian
nasasu 13 • It is highly probable that the LXX. may have
had this reading in their original text; they translate : i-oi-e o
{.Jaailevr; ai-vyvor; yevoµevog.
12. ii. ,:i:i .,~.,::m ,::i,. This usage of , as a sign of the
accusative is very common in Aramaic and is precisely ana-
logous to the ana of the later Babylonian.
14:. i. c:,~ "wisdom, understanding"; see on iii. 10.
14:•. ii. 7,.,.,~ is generally considered to be a corruption of
Eri-aku "servant of the moon-god" (Bar, Lib. Dan. p. ix.).
14. iii. c~n:.~ :."I "chief of the executioners". The stern
fabaxu in Assyrian also means "to slaughter"; cf. ,tabixu "execu-
11 See KB. i. p. 40, 25: lasifa. 12
See also Kautzsch, Gr. p. 92.
13 ZB. p. 92; p. 23 n. 1.
 CHAPTER IL 205

tioner", Sb. p. 126; also na,tbaxu "a slaughter-block" or "tor-

ture bench".
15. j".,N:i The primitive form was probably *i':~, which be-
came later i?\'$; then, by vocalic attraction "i':1\'$, and finally by
distraction j:j~. The word is cognate with the Hebrew TN-"'TN
and the Arab. l~t. "
~
16. i. N~:i. Cf. Heb. :,:s,:i. · This stem appears also in Assyr.
ba/u in the sense "demand" V. R. 5, 32. Ba'itu means "a
desired object"; ba'it ilani "the beloved of the gods", Shalm.
Mon. Obv. 6.
16. ii. 1r.i1 "time", Heh. ir;i: (Neh. ii. 6; Esth. ix. 27; 31) is
a loanword from the Old Persian zarvan; cf. mod. Pers. and
Arab. zeman.
16, iii. N::i,r.i, n.,,Mn, N"'JWEl, is an elliptical construction; "and
(it was) to show the interpretation to the king".
18. i. rr.in, is generally plural in Heh. in the sense of"mercy".
It is cognate with Assyr. remu "mercy"; (ASKT. p. 99, 53;
s .... (J ,

ZB. p. 20), with the Arabic i+>y and with the inverted
Ethiopic form mexra.
18. ii. NT'1 "mystery" is a Persian loanword.
18. iii. .,n,,:iM "his companions", from a sing. *,;1:1, is a
cognate of Heh. *-,~tt, Job xl. 30. The Assyr. ebru "friend"
is an exact equivalent; IV. R. 49, nr. 2. 49; HNE. p. 36, 16.
18. iv. "?~ is probably not the passive ptc., but, as Bevan
points out (p. 72 B.), is the old perf. passive which is seen
also in the pl. form ,.,r.i,, iii. 21 ; vii. 9.
20~ n,n, The imperfect with ,-preformative is occasionally
used in an optative sense, as in this passage, but in some
cases shows simply the. force of a regular imperf., as in ii.
28-9; iii. 14. It cannot be asserted that there is any difference
between the 3 p. masc. with ,-preformative and the same form
with "-preformative. It is possible that the form with ; was
used with the verb, · in order to avoid any similarity to the
Divine Name.
206 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

In Mandooan, as in Syriac, the regular prefix of the third

pers. masc. of the imperfect is n, but sometimes l. It•is highly
probable that the n form is secondary, being a developement
of an original l, (see Haupt, BA. i. 17), which, as is well known,
occurs in Assyrian in a precative signification. We may
compare in this connection, Laurie, Hebraica, ii., No. 4, p. 249;
''Remarks on an Assyrian Precative in Daniel."
In Mandooan, as in Aramaic, the two prefixes appear to
have an equal force; so much so, that in the former language
the l sometimes occurs by mistake for the unchangeable n of
the first person 14•
22. i. i=tr'li'~~, "deep wisdom"; cf. Assyr. imqu "wise", II. R.
16, 64 b; nemequ "wisdom", EIH. i. 7.
22. ii. i=t·N,~ "light". The Q're reads the common Aram. form
~-.,m. In view of the fact, however, that we find ,-.~:-,~ v. 11;
14 with ~, and also owing to the analogy of the Syriac, the
reading of the K•thib is preferable. The presence of the o-
vowel in i=t:iiwn should not be overlooked in this connection.
The writer probably wished to bring out the contrast between
the opposing ideas of light and darkness and therefore pur-
posely employed the light vowel, as_ it were, in the word i=t-.~:-i,.
22. iii. l!t-iw "dwells". The original meaning of this stem
is "to loosen"; cf. Assyr. saru. In primitive Semitic the mean-
ing must t}:ten have arisen "to cast bundles from the beasts
of burden"; e. g. preparatory to encamping for the night, so
that. later the idea "dwell" was developed. We may compare
in this connection the exactly analogous expressions in Arabic;
..-. s
Ci; 5 .z-- w .,,,,,,.
J~ "loosen"; &ls, ~ "place of rest". The month-name
Tiskri is a derivative from the Assyr. sari,. Its original mean-
ing was "beginner", because, being" the seventh month, it
begins the second part of the year.
" See Noldeke, Mand. Gr. § 166 and for examples in Mandrean of
the impf. of the verb ~,ri "to be" with ; preformative, § 196. Impf.
forms with l;, preformatives are also found in the dialect of the Bab.
Talmud; see l,uzzato, Gramm. d. Idioms d. Thalmud Bahli, p. 84.
 CHAPTFR II. 207
22. iv. ri:i:," £or i,:in"'; c£ !;llll?.!;I, iv. 19; r,-,:i~, iv. 32. The
form with the vowel is more usual in Aramaic.
23. .,~n:i~; better "'t:'11"1:i~.
24. ,::i
"he went in" has of course nothing to do with the
Heh. n,::, "to go up". It is a perfect 0£ ,,, from which ,:r
"yoke" is a derivative. The prep. ,:i,
is 'used like Heb. ,~
here as in vi. 7.
25. i. ,;,~ti for :i~IJ (c£ v. 24 and iv. 3), with compensative
. j for resolution 0£ the doubling; see above note v. on v. 9.
25. ii. r,r,:iwn 1 p. of Haphel ,vith the accent thrown back
and the vowel pathach inserted for euphony, e. g. *"'t:ii:,~~IJ =
=
1;1,:,:;l.liti !"ilJ:;~IJ. The form is certainly not a Pe<al with n
wrongly written for ~-prostheticum.
.,:i.,.
25. iii. "'l:i 1,;i .,, There is no need 0£ the particle .,,
after -,:.~.
26. :in:i is a stem found only in Daniel. It is undoubtedly
a variation 0£ the Heb. ,,:i
and ,:i.,, found also in Aram., iii.
17; iv. 34. The stem appears in Assyrian in the form akalu;
pr~t. tukkal 15, Deluge 20 (like the Heh. ,~~r.i); aklu "an official,
one holding authority", I. R. Sarg. 64.
28. i. 'C':i:P for -,~ "except" and 1'? "from"; c£. jr.l yin, Eccl.
ii. 25.
28. ii. ~-.,;i,-. r,-.-,M~:. "in the end of days". The Assyr. ina
arkat ume is an exactly equivalent expression. Behrmann point,-
out that the ordinary Aramaic idiom would be ~-.,;i,., ;:i,o. He
suggests that the author 0£ Dan. took the expression ~.,,;i,., r,'l"\M~:.
from Is. ii. 2.
29. For ~N~, followed by the suffix of the second person,
cf. on v. 18.
30. i. .,., r,-,:.-, :,:i, "in order that"; cf. Eccl. iii. 18; Yii. 14;
viii. 2; Job v. 8.
30. ii. ,,:i,-,,:,-. "they might make known" is an impenmnal
construction used as a circumlocution of the passiYe 15•

1
• Cf. BA. i. pp. 123-4. 16
Sec Kautzsch, Gr. § 9G, c.
 208 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

31. 1. ,,~ "behold" occurs only in Dan.; cf. vii. 8, and ,,tt,
vii. 2; 5; 6; 7; 13. Owing to the ., in the latter form, these
words were generally considered to be derivatives from ntt,
"to see". As this root, however, docs not appear as a verb
in Aram'aic, any connection between it and ,,i:t-,,tt is very
improbable. Behrmann caUs attention to the existence of
the form ,,n in the inscriptions 17 and to .,,n and .,.,~ in the
later Aramaic. It is not impossible that all these forms are
variations of a printltive ~,, cognate with the Assyr. lu "verily", .
which is used primarily as a particle affirmative of something
which has already occurred (AW. p. 373). The Heh. conditional
conjunctives e,:i-i,~ may also belong in this category.
31. ii. 0:i:i: "image" was commonly used in Aramaic of the
image of idols 18 ; cf. iii. 1. This word is an exact equivalent
and cognate of the Assyr. r;almu which is used, for example,
. of an idol, Asurb. vi. 53. It is probably from the same stem
as r;almu "black"; ASKT. p. 91, 58; p. 124, 19, possibly owing
to the dark colour of the material of which the Assyrian images
were generally made.
31. iii. in is used here as an indefinite article.
31. iv. j';?"! "that" is peculiar to the Book of Daniel. It is
found only here and in vii. 20-1. It is a combination of the
pronoun 1'1 and the well known demonstrative suffix n.
31. v. .,n,.,, "its form"; LXX. and 0 n:eo<1mptr;; V. statura.
In v. 6 however it means "face, complexion, hue". The word
is not borrowed from the Persian 19, but is most probably ·a
cognate of the Assyr. zimu "face", which is explained by
SAK-KI "surface of the head", V. R. 31, 14c. 2 ° For the
interchange of m and ,, see Haupt, ZA. ii. pp. 267; 273.

17 CJS. 2. 137. 1 • Maim on, More N ebochim i. 1 ed. Munk, p. 35;

T. Lev. xxvi. 1; Is. xiii. 8; also ZDMG. xxix. p. 110. 19 Noldeke,

Mand. Gr. p. xxxi. He retracted this theory, however, ZDMG. xl. p.

732. 20
Delitzsch, Prol. p. 152; Assyr. Gr. p. 73; Jensen, ZK. ii.
p. 43, 2,
 CHAPTER II. 209
31. vii. rw, "its appearance" is the only word in which a
trace of the stein :,~-, appears in Aramaic.
32. .,:,,,:, "its breast" from *.,,n, cognate with the Heb. n.j':t
(11) is used of the breasts of animals; Lv. vii. 30; Ex. xxix.
26-7, etc. It is generally employed thus in Aramaic, as in
T. Num. xviii. 18, but in T. Pr. xxiv. 33, it is used of a
man's bosom.
33. i. jlti)?J KetM,b; ,.,n)?J Qere. As to the relative correct-
ness of these two readings, see Kamphausen, pp. 18-19.
33. ii. ~'gl:) "clay"; c£ ii. 42; 45 and Arab. _j~ "clay ves-
sel". This word is clearly cognate with Assyr. xar,;bu "clay
vessel'', IV. R. 16, 62-3a; xa,,;batti, Sarg. Cyl. 9; xanr,;abu
"potter", V. R. 32, 4c. The word can have no connection
with aspu (Senn. v. 73) "fabrication, work", from esepu, as
suggested by Delitzsch, Prol. pp. 68:lf., because in this case
the :, of the Aramaic would appear in Arabic as which is e:
represented in Assyrian by the simple aspirate. The strong
:, -t is always equivalent to the Assyrian x, as is the case
in this word.
34. i. n•mn:i. LXX. and 0 insert the expression lg ~(!OVS
"out of the mountain" before this word, which shows that their
original text must have had ~.,,t,?J here. Kamphausen (p. 19)
considers that this must be an erroneous repetition from v. 35,
as its introduction is out of place in v. 34.
34. ii. On nti~, Bar and ni:t'?, Kamphausen, see Bevan, Dan.
p. 39.
35. i. ~i'1• This pointing indicates a stem r-,,,,,.,.,,
but the
stem in Daniel is usually in the Haphel, as in v. 34 • 21

35. ii. :,in::i "together"; cf. ,n~::i, Ez. ii. 64 and Assyr.
istenis from isten "one (AL. 3 p. 93, B. 5). The Greek combi-
nation xa.:f' fpa, 1 Cor. xiv. 31 is plainly an imitation of the
Semitic idiom.
35. iii. t,.,p..,j11!t "threshing floors, of summer". .,:li::t is a.nag
21 For full discussion, see Ka.utzsch, Gr. § 46, Sc.
Prince, Daniel. 14
 210 PIIILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

1e,yoµevov in Daniel, but common in the form -i:1"~, ii<)T'~ in the

later Aramaic. The Arabic andar for *addar, and baidar for
ii<'i,.,li< :,.,:::. are cognates. There i~ no reason for supposing with.
Lagarde that the word is of Iranian origin 22 . It is quite pos-
sible that it may be a Babylonian loanword from the same
stem as aduru, II. R. 52 nr. 2. 61, which seems to denote an
enclosed space (AW. p. 29). Adaru "a receptacle", Ziir. Voc.
11 ; 17-19 appears to be a derivative from the same root.
35. iv. l"ili<?'? £or :,~~,;i is clearly voweled on the analogy
of nti'?•
37. li<~tin "power". Behrmann translates this "riches", instead
of "power" (p. 15); cf. the verb· form , , , i~~tll"l" "they take pos-
session of", vii. 18; 22, and Arabic ..:)'""-~· In Syriac, however,
~ means "to be powerful!', while in Heh. i9" means "wealth",
and 10i; "strong".
38. i"-ili<,, ~re i".,.,,, as in Syriac; cf. 1"r.:ili<i-' (rr.:i"i'), iii. 3;
j":llii<'i (i.,,.,,), iii. 19;,.,~Ii<, (i"~",), Ezra vii. 25 23 •
39. i. "'il"lii<, fem. for !"l"'il"lii< like i:,l;,r.:i for z-,i:,:ir.:i, with omission
of the final !"'.•
39. ii. iJr.:i ii<:iJ'i~ "lower than thou". The Q•re !''j~ is the
better reading.
39. iii. ~.,ri.,;z-,, Q•re ti~!"l.,,n; see Kamphausen, p. 19 and cf.
iii. 25-6; 32; vii. 7; 23; 40.
4:0. ,~i; "crushes", ana~ 1ey61,,evov in 0. T. is-a cognate
of the well known Assyr. xaMlu, V. R. 18, 33cd. ff.
4:1. 'iMEl "potter"; literally "a collector", e. g. of clay; cf.
Assyr. paxaru "potter" V. R. 32, 18 e; AW. p. 521.
48. i"~'-tl :::.-i. Heb. c.,~,.o is undoubtedly a loanword from Assyr.
saknu "governour" from the stem sakanu "place, appoint".
23
" Ges. Abh. p. 10. Bevan, Dan. p. 75; Kamphausen, p. 19.
 CHAPTER III. 211

CHAPTER III.
1. rir.i.,pK. The usual prefix of the causative in Daniel is M
(cf. Kautszch, Gr. § 33, 2). There are, however, nine cases
of Aph•el with~; viz., ii. 45; iii. 1; 19; iv. 11; 16; v. 12;
vi. 8; vii. 8; 15.
2. i. K.,,El.,,WMK, also vi. 2, etc.; Esth. iii. 12; Ezra viii. 36,
is undoubtedly a corruption of the Old Persian kshatrapavan,
from which the later Greek aa,,;eam;r,; is a derivative. The
word seems to denote the head of a province.
. 2: ii. K.,m,. See above p. 210 on ii. 48.
2. iii. Kn~nii, .sing. K':I~ (Ezra v. 14), is found also Dan. iii.
27; vi. 8. It is clearly a loanword from the Assyr. paxatu
"district" 1, from pixii ''to steer, govern", and also "a governour" 2 •
The Aram. Kl"!El in Daniel is used to denote a vicc-governour,
not equal in rank to the ~.,,£1.,iUJnK.
2. iv. K.,.,n.,,K, translated "judges" in the A. V., is a Persian
loanword which seems to mean "councillors". It was probably
originally endarz-gar, from endarz "counsel'' 3•
2. v. K.,.,:i,:. "treasurers''; Ezra i. 8; vii. 21. Bevan 4 and
others s-qggest the alteration ~.,.,:i.,n from Pers. hamdawar "a
state-adviser'', on the analogy of v. 24 and vi. 18. This does
not seem necessary, as it is quite possible that the word is a
by-form of the ordinary "i::!T:. ''treasurer", itself a Persian deri-
vative. For the interchange of ., and T, cf. Kautzsch, Gr.
§ 10, 1 a. Lagarde 5, on the other hand, suggested cancelling
the word entirely as an error repeating the following K""i::ln'1,
because there are only six classes of officials in LXX. and
0, but seven in M. This is not satisfactory, however, as the
LXX. deviate from M. in enumeration also in v. 4 and we
are not bound to follow them.

1 Cf. bel paxati "governours"; Senn. v. 9. 2 Khors. 178. 3 Of.

Lagarde, Symm. i. 45, 116; Noldeke, Tabari, p. 462, note. 4

Dan.
p. 79. 6 Lag. Ges. Abh. pp. 27ff.; Noldeke, Mand. Gr. p. 51.

14*
 212 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

2. vi. K~'i:ir-,i is a Persian compound from n, "law" and the

final formative syllable .,~.; (seen, for example, in .,~1;). The
Old Persian form is databara, mod. Pers. dawar. The meaning
here is probably "judges", as in the A. V.
2. vii. K.~~~l;I is a word of very doubtful origin. It may be
a derivative from the stem Kn~ "to open, make clear, explain",
and consequently be a designation for "lawyers, advisers". The
Arabic afta, ptc. mufti, in the fourth form, has the meaning
"advise", which, however, does not appear in the other Semitic
languages. In Assyr. the Shaph<eJ of pitu "open" is used once
to express the idea "to cause to see, to make clear"; Senn.
Kuy. 4, 12; usaptuni panisu. We find also pU pani used
. adjectivally for "clear, perspicuous" (AW. p. 552). The r-,
prefix of K~n~r-, makes it very difficult to explain the word.
It t certainly does not mean "sheriffs" as in the A. V. 6
2. viii. ~~,b,w. The stem b':iu, occurs also in Assyr. in the
form salafu "to possess, conquer".
4. i. 1:-11,-,::; "herald", only here inBiblicalAramaic, but common
in the Targums and in Syriac. It is probably a regularly
formed nom. agentis from the verb ,.,::;, found only v. 29 in
Biblical Aramaic, which is itself a loanword from the Greek
XrJ(!V<J<JetP (see Kautzsch, Gr. § 64, 4; Behrmann, Dan. p. ix.).
4. ii. K;~~, sing. M~~, v. 29. Bevan's assertion that this
word originally means the offspring of one mother "thus pre-
supposing the matriarchal condition of society" 7 is not satis-
rnwt.
factory. The truth seems to be that Syr. iZl.!.o0i, Ar. &..ol and
Assyr. ummatu and ummanu are not derivatives from the word
for "mother", but together with it, come from a common original
stem C'I.Jt< ·"to enclose, comprise, embody". There can be no
!,
wl
doubt that ummu, ~I, 'C~, ew. "mother" originally meant the
womb or enclosure in which the child is born. The same idea
is seen in the Assyrian ammammu "vessel"; K. 242, c. iv. 25.
The Semitic word c~,;i~ (sg. *M~~) from this stem meaning
6 See 11,lso Behrmann, Dan. p. ix. 7
Dan. p. 80.
 UHAl'TElt lll. 213

"people, multitudes" is plainly a developernent from the second-

ary idea ''to comprise, group". It is hardly safe to generalize
from the Aram. word nr.ii:-t regarding a primitive matriarchal
condition of society.
5. i. i:-tl"\"l',.,Wr.i and i:-tl.,I' "pipe" and ''horn" respectively 8 are
the only Semitic_ words in this list of musical instruments.
The former is from a stem r,.,w ''hiss, blow" which occurs also
Ju. v. 6 l"\,r,,,.,w, where it probably refers to the piping of a
flute or syrinx and not to ''bleatings" as the A. V. renders
it. The i:-tl"\"l',.,Wr.i was in all probability the same instrument
as the ::i.:i,~, e. g. a syrinx.
5. ii. O"'il"\"i', j".,l"\lOEl and h"ll:lr.iio are plainly loanwords, as al-
ready indicated pp. 77-8, from the Greek xl1faeir;;, 1/)a).:c~ewv and
<rvµcpwvla respectively. The first word should be pointed 0"!?;1"!=1 9•
The Q•re changes it to the ordinary o:,z;-,i? 0£ the Targums; c£.
T._Is. v. 12. Behrmann, p. ix., suggests that the form h"ll:l"O
0£ iii. 10 is more correct than h"ll:lr.iio and that it goes back
to some Greek word connected with alcpwv "tube, pipe". He
translates it "bagpipe", regarding it as a synonym 0£ the Heh.
::i.)i::, which, however, was more probably the syrinx or pan's-pipe.
The chief objection to his view is that there is no such Greek
word as mcpwvla. The form n"lEl"O was probably merely an
Aram. mispronunciation for avµcpwvla. On j""'IC-lOEl with c-,
see below p. 214.
5. iii. :,::,::i,u, is clearly the semitized form of aaµ(:JvxfJ "the
triangular harp". The origin of this word is uncertain. Accord-
ing to Strabo (471) the instrument was 0£ barbaric origin. It
was probably Egyptian.
5. iv. i:-t"'lr.iT "lT, c£. vv. 7; 10; 15; Syr. zena, cstr. zan, also
in Heb.; ap cxliv. 13, is probably a Persian loanword from
zan, the cognate 0£ rbor;;, 10 •
8 See Cheque, Encycl. Brit. vi. pp. 803; 807; Driver, Introd. p. 470;

Derenbourg, Heb. ii. pp. 7-ff. · • Kamphausen, p. 21. 10 Noldeke,

Mand. Gr. p. 97; Syr. Gr. § 146; Lagarde, Reliquirn juris Eccles. graice
p. xxviii.
214 PHILOLOGICAL COllllllENTARY.

G. i. i~, read j,;, following tho Syriac; so Kamphausen, ·p. 21.

6. ii. !,~:, cf. Heh. j~:-
6. iii. lit~~\!.) (Bar} or, according to the accepted text of M.
~~fi;.), should be iit~f·,.;_;, both here and in iv. 16. n~9 has a in
the first syllable; see Kamphauscn, p. 21.
6. iv. •1~r.i~, iii. 11; 15; 17; 19-23; 26 ''oven, furnace'', which
~ 'y
is found in Syr. lJcl.j Mand; tana, Ar. u~I and Eth. aton,
is certainly cognate with and may be a derivative from Assyr.
atunu ((furnace", K. 55, Obv. 3; also in the form id-i'inu,
Sb. p. 95.
7. r'"lt;i~t,~ with t;i for r,, Behrmann compares the Ar. sanffr.
Generally in Aram. and in later Hebrew, r, stands for .:} and
u for 1:; cf. ji'"l9~1:1, .:tiaT(!OV, hut we do find lit~"~,1;1, T(!ayww;
cf. Strack, Neuheb. Gr. p. 13 § 6.
8. i. The qibbuts in r'"l:i.f for r"l;i~ from .,;~ is like mod. Ar.
fatba which is commonly pronounced almost like Eng. it in.
but, e. g. fut-ba.
8. ii. 1~n"~.,i' ~':,::iKi, lit. ''ate bits of the Jews", c. g. "accused
them wrongfully" (also v. 25), occurs also in Syriac. Precisely
the same expression is found in .Assyr.: qarr,;e akalu "to e;it
gnawingly, to slander, accuse falsely" (AW. p. 597) 11 • It is
quite possible that the form of the Aramffio-Syriac idiom was
suggested by. this Assyrian expression, although the idea of
devouring flesh as synonymous with slandering was. common
al~o among the Arabs; cf- ~;( J,51 "he traduced him";
5
&ls'!
"slander". The meaning in Daniel is clearly "to accuse wrong-
fully". The author could certainly not have had in mind the
idea of sycophants, as Behrmann suggested, p. 20.
10. 0:11u Mt11!l "thou didst command"; cf. v. 29; iv. 3; vi. 27,
e. g. "thou didst issue an edict". Aram. ti=t;i and Assyr. ,temu
mean both "command" and "understanding". For the former

11 Qar~ from qariiru "to guard, clip off"; cf. ikkiba akiih, "to eat

guilt" which means "to take guilt upon oneself", c. g. to do wrong,

IV. R. 51, 13b. See also ZA. vi., p. 246.
 CHAl'TEB. Ill. 215

meaning, cf. also on v. 2; Ezra iv. 8; 9; 17 and in Assyr.,

IV. R. 54, n. l, 2: etlu ina femisu "the husband with his
command"; I. R. 46, c. iii. 57: ki ,iem ramanisu "of his own
accord (command)". In v. 12, c::;o •• 7"1;,::; ir.itti :lt, "they have not
considered thee", we have an excellent example of c::;o in the
sense of "understanding, consideration"; cf. also ii. 14; vi. 14,
and in Assyr. I. R. Samsr. ii.. 18: amtlu fema "a man of
understanding"; IV. R. 57, c. iii. 33: usanna Jenki "I will
change thy understanding", e. g. "make thee mad" 12 • For the
verb c::;o "to feed", see iv. 22, and for c:.io "account", vi. 3.
12. i. jlnr,., an:~~ ley6µevov in Biblical Aram., but common
in the Targnms; see Bevan, p. 38.
12. ii. The Q•re i::lt:m,., should be i"~';~l"'l., lK•thib). M. cancels
everyw~erc the ., of the plural 13 •
12. iii. ;-.n1;,:EJ :lt1;, 7n,:lt1;, "they worship not thy gods". The
regular meaning of n,:EJ is probably "to split 14; break open";
then, "to till the soil", as in Ar. ~ (cf. C:~ "agricultural
labourer");. then, "to cultivate a god", hence, "to worship", as
here in Daniel and "to serve", as in Ezra vii. 24 15 • Finally,
"to reverence, fear", as in Assyr. palaxu, passim. The word
appears in Arabic with C: instead of t' because it is an
Aramaic loanword and the l'1 in West Aramaic was pronounced
like Arabic. C: 16 • We find a precisely similar case in masaxu
"measure", I. R. 7, c. viii. 22 e which appears in Arabic as
f::""'°'
whereas it should be C_..,,
according to the ~aw of
change.
13. i. 1t") with pathacb, but in the Targums t-tp1~-,, is a
meta.plastic formation like ::ii;,~, iv. 12, but :ltf½'~, iv. 22; '!J?
v. 5, but :lt;?I'."~, Ezra v. 8; cf. Kautzsch, Gr. § 54, e.
13. ii. ~';11:), but v. 19 t-t';lt-1·
13. iii. li"!J"iJ "they were brought"; cf. vi. 18 ri:!J"iJ, but v. 3
12 Cf. also Asurb. c. viii. 6. 13 See Kamphausen, p. 21. 14 Prov.
vii. 23; Job xvi. 13. 15 In spite of Delitzscb, Prol. pp. 176ft'. 10See
. Noldeke, Syr. Gr. p. 4.
 216 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

"they brought". The first two forms are representatives

~•r:i;i:r
of passives, which, as Wellhausen remarks, may be new devel-
opements from the participle 17 •
14. i. ~~~:,, better ~,~::i, if M. is to stand. Bevan, p. 83,
and Behrmann, p. 21, following ii. 5; 8 suggest the reading
~w~::i "is it certain?',. This is really the only satisfactory ex-
planation of the word. The A. V. translates correctly "is it
true?"
14. ii. 1~::>,::a•m•, a Shaph•er loanform from the Assyr. suzubu 18
''to save, rescue", passim. The Syriac sauzeb is nearer its
prototype. There are only two genuine Shaph•el formations
in Biblical Aramaic; viz., :.T•lti and ~•:it•lti from ~:!I:•; see Kautzsch,
Gr.§ 35.
16. i. j•nivr:i partc. from r,wn, according to Kautzsch § 58,
2 e. M. has rnl!l,:t. The stem is a cognate of the Assyrian
xusaxxu "need, necessity", Tig. viii. 85; xisixtu, I. R. 52
nr. 3, 2'i'a 19•
16. ii. c~i;,!/1 ·"word"· not t:l~l;lll, as it is pethegama in Syriac.
It is a loanword from the Old Persian patigama(?), mod. Pers.
paigham "message, word" 20• In iv. 14, it means "decree, edict".
17. jn "if". All the versions, L:XX., 0 and V. misunder-
stand the force of this particle and translate it "behold", as
if it were the Heh. n,n, jn. In Biblical Aram. jn always means
"if, whe~er".
19. i. ~,l'\1!l~ 'of the K•thib is more correct than ,,t,u.,~ of the
· Qere. •The plural form agrees by attraction with the plural
noun •nEJ,~.
19. ii. :,:,::iw ,:, "sevenfold"; P. Ex. xxii. 3; see Noldekc,
Syr. Gr. § 241; Mand. Gr. p. 243.
20. ~~,~; "throw down"; cf. vi. 25; vii. 9. ~~, is prob-
ably a cognate of the Assyr. ramu "set, lay down", used gen~r-

17 See Deutsche Lit. Zeitung, 1887, nr. 27, C. 968, and Kamphausen,

pp. 21-2. 10 Shaph<el of ezebu, "to save" = Heh. !:lT!I:, Ar. 'azaba.

•• Of. l'\!M'ii,il'j, Ezra vii. 20. A synonyni of xusaxxu is qalqaltum, V. R.

11, 42~3ef. • 0 See Lagarde, Arm. St. § 1825,
 CHAPTER III. 217

ally of a dwelling; cf. Cyrus Cylinder, 23. It appears, how-

ever, V. R. 50, 45-6 in the sense of "overthrQw". Nirmii
means "foundation", il. R. 35, 44e f.
21. i. ~!"IF/? and ,.,l:?;, passives like "?~·and 11;, ii. 19, q. v.
21. ii. 1,:,.,,::i.,o is a doubtful word. LXX. translate "their
shoes"; 0 and V.: "their trousers", which is probably correct.
The word may be the same as the mod. Persian salwar
"trousers", used also in Turkish 21 • The Targumic ~,:i-,o, how-
ever, means "tunic".
21. iii. 1i:,,,:N~si K•thib should be vowelled jin"\!l"~~ 22 • The
Q're 1in,1!:l'f;i is probably more correct. The exact meaning cannot
be determined 23 • _The garment may have been a sort of shirt-
tunic which fell over the trousers(?)
21. iv. 1inr,,::i-,:i, from which we have the Hcb. ,::i-,:i, occur-
ring only 1 Chron. xv. 17 used as partc. meaning "clothed".
It may mean "cloaks", indicating the long cloak-like outer
garment, similar to the modern abba. Behrmann makes it a
derivative from l.:,:i:i "to bind", but this is ~xtrcmely doubtful.
22. i. ~l'~ti from r-,,o; cf. Hoph. p~r::, vi. 24.
22. ii. ~.,,, .,, ~:i.,:iu,, cf. vii. 9; also Job xviii. 5 and Assyr.
sibat isati "flames of fire", K. 4361, c. i. 9, from sababu "burn",
a synonym of sam'ii; see ,AW. p. 637. The Syr. sabh "burn"',
a; ~

is clearly a variation of the same stem 2 '. The Arabic ~

"burn", however, with Ji, where we should expect to find U"'
may be a loanforin from the Syriac 25 •
23. 1in,~?!;i, so Bar, Strack, Marti and Ginsburg; see Kamp-
hausen, p. 22.
24-. i. ~.'.lt;i, an. l8y., appears in the Targums as ~nr,, Syr.
moL, Ar. 11!.:s, under all of which is the.idea "to be in confusion",
seen in the cognate Heb. ~:,·r.i "desolation".
24-. ii. .,n,-,:i,:,l.:,. The context shows plainly that this is

~~
6
21 Cf, Ar. J~~. pl. "garment". 22
Kamphauscn, p. 22.
23See, however, Behrmann, Bevan and Levy NHWB. 24
Barth, Etym.
Stud. p. 50. 25 See, however, Bevan, p. 84; Behrmann, p. 23.
218 PHILOLOUICAL COMMEN'l'AHY.

intended to denote those who were in personal attendance on

the king, possibly his counsellors (A. V.), or ministers. The
term is most probably a Persian loanword ending in -bar, but
its origin is obscure 26 • It is barely possible that we have
here a later corruption of the Babylonian itbaru "friend, com-
panion"; II. R. 28, 29e; 57-9; V. R. 42, 29f; but it is much
more likely that the word has a Persian origin, like the ma-
jority of obscure expressions in Dan. i.-vii.
25. i. r:.i?t;i,;, intransitive Haph<el, as in iv. 34. Some texts,
however, read the Pa'el ,.,:.i?ti'? as in iv. 26, which seems a
preferable emendation 2 7•
25. ii. ,:in "injury"; so Kautzsch § 57 a. It is undoubtedly
cognate with the Assyrian xibiltu, "ruin, destruction", Sarg.
Cyl. 4, from xabalu "destroy"; cf. Heb. ,:in, Job xxxiv. 31;
Neh. i. 7.
27. i. ~.,,, o,v ~,. ~.,,J is masculine here, but is usually
employed as feminine. On the other hand, Mi"I is construed
here as fem., as may be seen from the verb n"l~. n,., is al-
ways masc., elsewhere, but it may be used as a feminine here
on the analogy of the Heb. ni"I. Ar. rift is also femipine.
27. ii. j,n,uw;,. The plural indicated by the K•thib is correct.
28. ,n,,~ i:,.n"lnn "who trusted in him"; cf. ,~ yn"I, common
in T. This stem is clearly a cognate of the Assyrian raxa(U
(prct. irxui;) 28 which is also construed with eli; c£ V. R. 5,
102: eli sutti annUi ummania irxui;u "my troops trusted in
that dream"; cf. -also Ar. raxai;a "to be gracious". This stem
does not occur at all in Syriac.
29. ,~~, cf. v. 16, and see p. 204 on ii. 10.

' See v. Bohlen, Symbol. ad interp. s. cod. ex ling. Pers. p. 26,

6

who suggests that it is a cognate of hamdava1·, a theory refuted by

Bevan, p. 85, n. 1. 27
Kautzsch, Gr. p. 58. 28
To be carefully
distinguished from mxa9u, pret. irxi9, "to overflow, flood"; cf. Heb.
yn"I "to wash".
 219

CHAPTER IV.
C. iii. 33 (3). .,.,, -,., o=: "from generation to generation". Several
expositors have commented on this peculiar use of o=: in the
sense of "unto, during", e. g. "unto (during) generation and
generation", which is found, for example, vii. 2, K;?"?.-o:?, but
in Hebrew only 1[1 lxxii. 5. We find ,=:, however, in precisely
this construction 1¥ c. 5; Is. xiii. 20, c. g. .,,.,, .,,., ,:.i, and
there can be no doubt that there was a connection in the
Semitic mind between the ideas "unto" and "together with".
Thus, in Assyr. adi "unto" frequently usurps the place of itti
"together with"; as adi namkurrisunu, Tig. iii. 7; Asurn. i. 85,
et passim. On the other hand itti does not occur in the sense
of "unto'' like the Heh. and Aram. o:.i as well as the Arabic e·
C. iv. 1 (4). i. "!'.';~~- So Bar, but "l'.'"~:.i is better (Ginsburg
and Marti).
1 (4). ii. p=:-,, an. ley. in Biblical Aramaic. It is most
probably a Heh. loanword.
1 (4). iii. "'';,ii:." ........ "'''".,"· For this use of the
imperf. to express past action, see Bevan, p. 37. These
imperfects are undoubtedly dependent on the perfect r"1"'TM, e. g.
"I saw a dream, so that it terrified me", etc.
l (4). iv. r,;,=:,r,. See on ii. 25, p. 207.
5 (8). r:nK ,=:,, Q're. Kautzsch reads i"'.'1MK ,=:, (see Gr.
§ 61, 3), following the K•thib. The difficulty is that the K•tkib
merely represents another pronunciation _for the Q•re 1 and that
r"inK-j"iMK cannot mean "last" or "at last". J. D. Michaelis
most probably hit upon the correct rendering when he changed
"'1~1 to ,:::1 reading i:t:ri::tT ,s1 and rendering: aand still another
entered before me"; viz., Daniel 2•
6 (9). c~~ "oppresses, troubles"; an:. ley. only in Esther
i. 8 "compeP'. The stem is common in the Talmud.
1
For references, see Kamphausen, p. 23. 2
Followed also hy
Bevan, p. 90.
220 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

8 (11). nl"l'\Tn, also v. 17 (20), is commonly translated "its

appearance", as if from nTn; cf. the Heh. l"l~Tl;, viii. 5 3 • As
the word is parallel to t:)r.w, ''its height", we should expect it
to mean "extent". Behrmann's suggestion, therefore, to read
~:,iTl:) 4, which would have this meaning seems to be the best
idea. It is probable that the original text, from which the
version of 0 was made, had some such word; cf. his rendering
TO xvr:og av-cov "its size, expanse" 5•
9 (12). i. n:mt "its fruit". This is probably the original
form of the word which is a derivative from a stem ::.~~ "t~
spring, jump"; then, "sprout"; ef. Assyr. inbu "fruit" 6, IV. R ..
57, 9a. A cognate of this is Assyr. anabu "hare", e. g. "the
jumping animal", I. R. Anp. iii. 135; Heh. l"l::l~"lile, Ar. ~;I, with
"I inserted for a resolution of the doubling (ZB. p. 13). The form
in the Targum, therefore, is secondary with Dagesh forte comp.
for assimilation of the j. The i in n::.~ile is, theref<?re,· probably
not for a resolution of the doubling, as if the word were from
::.::.tot which appears in Assyr. as quite a different stem; as, for
example, in the word ebbu "bright, shining" and in the verb:
belesu ubbiba "he polished his weapons", IV. R. 48, la. The
Heh. ::.~ "fresh verdure", Cant. vi. 11 is a cognate of this
s
w3'-
latter stem; cf. also ::.,::.ile and Ar. __,f.
9 (12). ii. j'\Tr.i 7 "food"; cf also v. 18 and in Heh. Gen.
xlv. 23; 2 Chr. xi. 23 and c,~J~r.i, Jer. v. 8 "well nourished",
from ,~T; c£ ,,!l';I: here. This stern appears in Assyr. as a .
reduplicated verb, zananu "to support, care for"; cf. V. R.
40, 5 e f, where the word zaninu is a synonym of retum u
masqUum "food and drink".
9 (12). iii. ,,~n; an. ley. in Biblical Aramaic.· Uncontracted
Haph'els of reduplicated verbs occur very seldom in this

• See Kautzsch, § 61, 4b. 4 Generally used in T. as an adverb,

but see T. Ex. iii. 3. 5 For full discussion of the various suggestions,

cf. Kamphausen, p. 24. ' See Delitzsch, P~ol. p. 114. 7

Cf. Nol-
deke, Mand. Gr. p. 110, 3 on the prefix ma:-.
 221
dialect. The ordinary causative of ;;c in T. is the meta-
plastic Aph•el ;,cN..
9 (12). iv. The Q•re j,~,;, cf. v. 18, is unnccessaiy, but
was undoubtedly suggested by the fact that i!1Ji; like Heh. iiEl~
is usually feminine.
10 (13). ,,~ "messenger" (Heh. ,,~, Is. xviii. 2 with ya).
The LXX. have correctly ayrelog. e, however, renders lie,
keeping the Aramaic expression, and both A. and S. translate
sre~roeog "a wakeful one", which was used later to denote a
particular class of angels, e. g. the guardian spirits.
11 (14). i. ~,r:i~ "cut off", Aph. of ,r,i, synonym of ;:ii
T. lJi i. 3, is cognate with the l\'1ishnic ,10i, Ar. :ti and the
Assyr. nasaru (wt) "to diminish, cut off"; cf. Al. ·p. 487.
11 (14). ii. w,::i "scatter", cf. xi. 24 ,,1::i,; P lxviii. 31 (t1).
,i:,ir.i,:ir:i is a Hebraism for , 0ir,irir;i, as in v. 18; see Kamphausen,
p. 24.
12 (15). i. ,~:i, for ,~::; also vv. 20-3, following the Syriac;
cf.. Kautzsch, Gr. § 59, c.
12 (15). ii. ,::i~::.,, also v. 20; cf. v. 21. :i,::i::. is possibly the
same stem as we find in the Heh. ,::i::.N., Assyr. ,;ubbu "finger",
e. g. "the dipping member"(?). We may compare Assyr. ,;ebu
"to dye", found for example, in the derivative ,;ebutum "tinctio,
immersio", II. R. 30, 32f.; IV. R. 7, 41 b. For ,;ibu "to wish",
see below on v. 14.
13 (16). i. n::i::i; "his_ intelligence".. ::,,; in Heh. is frequently
used for the seat of intelligence; cf. 1 Kings x. 2; Eccles.
vii. 22. Libbu in Assyr. also means "will, desire", as, for ex-
ample, in the well known expression ki la libbi ilani "against
the will of the gods", Khors. 124.
13 (16J. ii. N.Ul'll::< j?;;. The Q•re _N.IDlN. is more correct (see
Kamphausen, Dan. p. 25). The K 6thw is probably a Hebraism.
13 (16). iii. jl\!l,, used impersonally for the passive. For the
connection of a change of heart or mind with insanity, cf. iu
Assyr. usanna Fmki "l will change thy understanding'', e. g.
,'make thee mad'\ IV. R. 57, c. iii. 33; Asur fenst{ usannina
222 PlllliJLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

"A. deprived him of understanding", V. R. 8, 6; also Asurb.

Sm. 119, 23. In Syriac i...i... means "a lunatic".
14 (17). i. n"l:li ~ is undoubtedly a scribal error for ,~
n"1:l'1; cf. Kautzsch, Gr. § 69, 10, Kamphausen, p. 25 and Hitzig,
p. 65, etc.
14 (17). ii. K:i.:,;, from K:l:.:: "to wish"; also v. 22 (25) and
vii. 19; cf. Assyr. cibu "to wish", I. R. Sarg. Cyl. 42, from
which the derivatiYes ter,;b-Uu "wish"; r,;ib1Uu "desire"; cf. Jensen,
ZK, ii. pp. 26- 7. (Jibiltu is exactly the same form as ~:i.:,; =
n~::i~, vi. 18.
14 (17). iii. t:l"W~K with the Hebrew plllI'al ending (cf. vii.
10, K•thib, an'd Ezra iv. 13) is undoubtedly a scribal error;
see Kautzsch, § 51, 2.
14 (17). iv. r,,:,'.ll, The Ketkzb should be pronounced <alaih;
see Kamphausen, p. 25. ·
15 (18). K~,n m,. "This dream I have seen"; not, "this
is the dream which I have seen". The demonstrative pronoun
precedes the noun, as in Ezra v. 4, and the relative ,., is
omitted here.
16 (19). i. n,n n,w~. n'.ll'f "a short time", like ~J., in Ex.
8
xxxiii. 5, translated by n~UJ in T. Onk • The word is cognate
with the Assyr. satfit "period of time" 9• The meaning "hour",
which appears in later Hebrew and Aramaic, is undoubtedly
secondary 10 •
16 (19). ii. 7,ri:::i,. Bevan 11 calls attention to the absence
of the energetic infix -in- before the suffix in this form. This
is more the custom of the Eastern Aramaic dialects, but the
same peculiarity is seen in the ,v. Aramaic Terna Insciiption
in the form ,r,~nc~,1 2.
19 (22). r;,:::i,., must certainly be pointed ::i;;i7. The Q•re r;;i7
would be 3 p. fem. sg. and a wrong form at that, for it would

8 See p. 86. 9 Delitzsch, Prol. pp. 39ff.; AW. p. 632. 1 ° Cf.

11
Levy, N euhebr. Worterbuch. Dan. p. 93. " Cite<l Behrmann,
Dan. p. 28.
 CIIAPTEll lV. 223

then have to be !"\;i"}, as it actually occurs in this verse. This

is of course a textual error due to carelessness 13•
20 (33): lilM .,.,,. For this construction of.,.,, cf. ii. 41; 43.
21 (24). l"i"iJ1:1, KetJtib, is clearly an error. The Q're !"\';??
is coITect. See Kautzsch § 47, g, 1, a.
22 (25). i. i""1io. The participle used for the Passive. ,,o,
which occurs also vv. 29-30 and v. 21, as well as in Heh.
'P xix. 13; xxvii. 15, is cognate with the Assyrian ,taradu "drive
away"; cf. in(i zumrisu ·li(rud "from his body may he drive
it", IV. R. 15, 27b, et passim.
22 (25). ii. n,n,.See above, p. 205 on ii. 20.
22 (25 ). iii. 1,r.:i~c". For c~7, see on iii. i. The verb c~~
"to feed" occurs also iv, 29; v. 21. This meaning is not found
in Assyrian except in the substantive timtum = bubutum "food,
nourishment", II. R. 43, ,12d.
22 (25 ). iv. llt\lm~ is u~ed here collectively for "mankind",
like C"11lt in Hebrew; cf., however, um~ in 1P viii. 5 and \!Jilllt j~
in P cxliv. 3.
24 (27). i. in, "therefore", see above on ii. 9.
24 (27). ii. ,::i,1:1 "my counsel''; cf. in Heb. l?.'l;l~j in the
Niph., Neh. v. 7, and the Assyr. milku "decision, counsel":
la issakanu milku "no decision was taken", I. R. Rammannir. 6b.
It is highly probable that the Semitic word for "king, prince",
Aram. ~~?~, Heb. l?'?., Ar. ~ , Assyr. malku, is a derivative
from this stem and originally meant "councillor", dating from
the early nomadic time when the leader of the horde was the
oldest man of milku.
24 (27). iii. p~~ "break off" seems to be correct here, as
in Gen. xxvii. 40 and in Aboth iii. 5, where it is used of
breaking or casting off a yoke. Some commentators, follow-
ing 0 and V., render this by "redeem", a meaning seen, for
ex., 'P cxxxvi. 24; also in jip,EI "redemption", T. Nu. iii. 46-8.

13 Kamphausen, p. 25.
224 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

It cannot possibly mean "expiate sins", however, which would

be the necessary application in this passage of Daniel.
24: (27). iv. 11;;~~ (Bar) is better than 1t1;~~; see Kamp-
hausen, p. 25. The singular is probably Nt:1;~~; absol. N;,'.l~'.
24: (27). v. i:~~; cf. Rautzsch § 15, a; 57, a {J, from sing.
"?~i cf. Heh. t:1":.l~, 1P ix. 13; x. 12, xviii. 28, of which the
Arruu. word is no doubt an imitation.
24: (27). vi. 7r-i,'!:,~'!:, n::i"IN i:-tinl"I jh. ,,::i"li:-t can only be a dcri-
Yative from 7"1bt "to be long", Heb. 1'.'.1~ "long''. Ewald's sub-
stitution here of the punctuation n;i~~ 14 (Is. lvii. 8) "healing"
is not satisfactory, because nt'1~ ''length, duration" is estab-
lished by Dan. vii. 12 15•
24: (27). vii. 7!ii,w probably means "prosperity" and is not
to be pointed 1t1~'~ "sins" 16• It can certainly have no connection
with the Assyr. salafu "to rule", with ~ as Meinhold suggests.
He cites the form salufu, which has not been found in the
inscriptions !
27 (30). i. ni:,";t;i, so Ben-Asher, but some Mss. ":;i. Ben
N aphtali suggested ni:,;1::;i which is certainly correct; see Kautzsch
§ 15, e.
27 (30). ii. -ii;'l;I; c£ -ij,r;, in the Received Text, and also in
ii. 37, which would seem a more natural reading here. "1i?%;1,
however, is generally considered to be correct; cf. Kamphausen,
p. 26; Bevan, p. 95, etc.
s
w•
28 (31). tl~; cf. Arabic ~- The t:1 here is probably the
indication of an original nasalized final vowel 17 • The Assyrian
pu "mouth" which appears without final m is similar in this
respect to the Heh. n~ and the Arabic form ~~-
30 (33). i. j""IWl from "l°l;i?; cf. Heb. "1'9.? and Assyr. nasru
"the great vulture" whlch is called asarid iQ!}urati "the leader
of the birds", I. R. Senn. iii. 68.

u So Gr. Ven. lar:r.tik,. 10 In this passage, Gr. Ven. translates

17
correctly by µr1xo, (Doric for ,uifxo,) "length". 16 So P. Against
Barth, ZDMG. xli. pp. 633ff., who sees an original stem i,;ill.
 CHAPTER V. 225
30 (33). ii. ,r,,-,1!,c,, from .,~~, is used also of the hoofs of
quadrupeds, vii. 19; cf. Heh. j)'e~, Deut. xxi. 12, of the human
finger nail, and Assyr. 9upru, of the human nail pressed on a
seal, III. R. 48, nr. 4, 1 and of lions' claws V. R. 47, 21 b.
31 (34). i. n;t:;, incorrect punctuation for n;i~~-- See Kautzsch,
§ 9, 4, c.
31 (34). ii. ::-tr.i,::i ,r,!,; cf. xii. 7, c,,::in ,r,.
32 (35). i. r,?9 sh~uld be ::-t?t· Aram. n,-::-t,, however, cannot
possibly be regarded as a substantive meaning "nothing" 18 • It
must be construed with the following r::i,1Vn, e. g. i"::i,u,r, 16:=
"like those of no. account''; cf. the Hebrew idiom w,::-t-::-t:i "one
who is not a man", e. g. a supernatural being, Is. xxxi. 8; also
in A ssyr. ki la-libbi ilan-i, Khors. 124, where la-libbi means
"that which is against ,the desire".
32 (35). ii. r,-,,::i Kl17.l" "smite his hand", e. g. "hinder him";
cf. Ar. ~ ~ Y~·
· 33- (36). l:"\.?f?~~ "I was established" is correct. If the reading
l:"\;ll'l"ln, found in most Mss., be adopted, it would be necessary
with Marti to change ,:iito '?~, and to read Nprir, ~l:"\t::i:ir.i ",:ii,
"and on me (for me) my kingdom was established"; cf. Kamp,c
hausen, p. 26.
34 (37). i. cr.ii"ir.i is a Hebraism.
34 (37). ii. r:=,nr.i. See on iii. 25.

CHAPTER V.
1. cn:i 'l::J:1'1 cf. t"ll:"\t!.lr.i r,11):i,, Eccles. x. 19; Gen. xxi. 8.
2. i. i<"ir.in c:s,c,::i · "at the command of the wine"; see p. 105
and on iii. 10, p. 214.
2. ii. "=::-tr.i:i. j::-tl.:I is probably a noun-form with prefixed c from
a stem Vi=i<-"=K, like the Assyr. unutu "vessel, furniture"
Senn. vi. 57 and the Heb. n~.=tt "ship".
is So @ and P.
Prin'co, Daniel. 15
226 PHILOLOGICAL COMMEN'rARY.

3. :il'iti, "the legitimate wife", - see if:1 xlv. 10, used in Neh.
ii. 6, of the queen. According to 'Bar Ali (cf. Payne Smith,
Thesaurus, p. 542, under belath'i, Venus) the star Venus was
called by the Babylonians segal wi:idilbat. 'l'li was evidently
a synonym, therefore, of beli:ithi = beltu, "Lady", a name of
Htar.
Hesychius also gives the form deUcpar:, (i. e. Dilbat), as the
Babylonian name of Istar-Venus as the morning star. Dilbat
seems to mean "the announcer'', i. e. of morning or evening.
See II. R. 7, 37, g. h.; dilbat = nabu "to tell, announce". In
II. R. 48. 51, the star Dilbat is mentioned in the same paragraph
with Sin (the moon) and Samas (the sun). For the goddess
!star in her double capacity of morning and evening star~ see
Delitzsch-Miirdter, Geschichte, p. 29, and for the name of the
place Dilbat, cf. Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 119.
5. i. ~p!l)- V. apparuerunt. The Q"re np!:1) is unnecessary,
nor is there any need of reading 1!'Ei) fem. pl., according to an
old codex 1 • The Semitic construction does not require that
the verb and subject should agree. As to the possible survival
of a feminine pl. in Hebrew, see J. P. Peters, Hebraica, iii.,
nr. 2. 111. That .11 and rl were respectively the masculine and
feminine third person pl. endings of the perfect is quite prob-
able, if the existence of a perfect in primitive Semitic be granted.
More than this it is very difficult to assert. ,v
e may compare
in this connection the remarks of Dr. Cyrus Adler, Hebraica,
iii. p. 268. See also p. 238 on vii. 8.
5. ii. t-tr-,'iti-,':l), ana; leyoµevov. Derivation uncertain. Syriac
nevrasta "flame, lantern", from which the denominative ethnevras
'illuminate"; Arabic, nibras. The Jerusalem Gemara translates
it by l:l""lEI):):,, According to Ibn Ezra, t:-to~:i~.? is the synonym
of t"l)i)'?, used of the great branching candlestick of the
Tabernacl~ 2• The Targum to Zephaniah i. 12, translates ·9

1 118 K, cf. Bertholdt, p. 368, n. 5. 2 See Bnxtod', Lexicon,

c. 1290 and Ex. xxv. 31 ff.; 1 Kings vii. 49, etc.

 ClIAPTElt Y. 227
by lltl"l1ti"i:l~. All authorities seem agreed that the word iR
of foreign origin. Cf. Bickell, Ephr. Carm. Nisib. 53, where
a derivation from the Sanskrit ni +bhrag 3, "illuminate" is
suggested. This is as unsatisfactory as the attempt of Bern-
stein, Lexicon, to derive it from "1:1~, shine, and lltl"lui::-t, fire,
or that of Sa'adia from lltl"lui--i:;-i~-light that shines through
all the year. A Persian derivation (Frankel, Fremdworter p. 96)
is hardly admissible, because the original Persian word has yet
to be found. That the Arabic form nibras belongs to the older
language is seen from N:ib. 27, 21; J:ikut. iv. 737, 7. No
satisfactory etymology seems possible at present.
6. iii. llt"i":.-"plaster, lime";. cf. Buxtorf, Lexicon, col. 425,
for the Rabbinical definition: "lsnwr.in ~i'"ii' j"ti "i":1, species terrce
denigrantis. The word is probably cognate with Assyrian, qiru,
"pitch, mortar''; c£ Haupt, Nimrod Epos, 137, 1. 66,-(the
Deluge) attabak ana qiri ''I poured out for caulking'', or
"pitching''. The ideogram which is found in this passage with
. variant ki-i-ri is explained in the syllabary Sb 94. There is
s~-
probably some connection with the Arabic~ "pitch", accord-
ing to the theory of Haupt in Schrader's KAT. 2, p. 516, in
spite of Jensen's doubt as to the meaning of the word
(Kosmologie, p. 410). Lagarde connects it with Turkish, kil,
"fuller's earth"(?).
6. iv. :,I"\:, "wall", from lll.;'?r;'i~, c£ Ezra v. 8, is cognate with
the Assyrian kutallu "side" Senn. vi. 28; I. R. 44, 55, etc.
6. i. ,n,,T, see on ii. 31, p. 208.
6. ii. ·,:,,~w. The termination has the force of a dative, as
already Kranichfeld saw (Dan. p. 217). It is not the use of
the suffix to express_ the pronominal ending and the preposition,
as Kautzsch thought, (Gr. § 89, 2, as in v. 9 ,n,:i:i.i; also vii. 28),
nor is it reflexive (Lengerke, Dan. p. 248). The use of the
suffix to express the dative relation occurs in Assyrian in such

3 Also Behrmann, p. 32.

15*
 228 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

a connection as ASKT. p. 80, 18: itW, isinni saknus "at the

feast made for him"; probably also op. cit. p. 80, 14: Adar
sarru maru sa abasu ana rl1qetim appa usalbinusu "Adar the
king, the son, before whom his father makes them worship far
and wide". It is difficult to know if the suffix has a real
dative force in cases like amatum ubakki, IV. R. 30, 7,
"I made the word come to thee''; i:na bUi ti erubsu, ASKT.
p. 93, 21, "may it not come into the house to h-im"; op. cit.
p. 81, 14. lummidsu "may I erect to him", etc.
6. iii. n:r,i,. ~::t'iH "the lower part of the back", cf. Heb.
c,";i,. See ZDMG. xl. p. 741.
7. i. n?~::;i, from ;;:.t for H?~tt- See on vi. 15, ,~~'2-·
7. ii. 1(,,,.,1(, Assyr. argamannu As urn. i. 88; c. iii. 68; "the
darker purple scarlet" as opposed to takiltu, r"i?,?.1;1 "the lighter
purple red". Compare in this connection, Zehnpfund in BA.
i. p. 507, on the different sorts of purple.
7. iii. 11(=";,:in, var. ~~,;~, may ·be the same word as the Greek
µavuxitr;g to which Polybins, II. 31, refers as a Gallic ornament: •
i-ovi-o o'tai-i xevaovv 1.jJ{)J.wv o rpoeovat neei 1:ag xeiQag xai
7:())) 1:eaxr1Ao1 Ot I'aA<frat.
1 Theodotion's translation has here
o o
µanaxr;g xevaovg. The word is probably originally Persian 4.
7. iv. °'r-1?1J (in vv. 16, 29 ~~?1::1), The ordinary form of the
Aramaic numeral is "!"l";l"1, cf: Daniel ii. 39. Hitzig (Daniel
p. 81) read here "IJ?l::i in order to connect it with ~1;1?1:1, but
the form "I:1?1::1 can be an adjectival formation meaning "the
third", like the Hebrew .,:;,,'!l "a third part", Num. xv. 6; Ezek.
· Y, 12. l(l';l?l:1 would then have to be considered as an abnormal
:-;t. emphat. of an abRolute "l:1;1::1 (Kautzsch, p. 121). Bevan's
idea is that- ~l:)?IJ may be the Aramaic equivalent of the Arabic
ath-thilth "every third day", and that "!"l;l"I in this verse may
be an error due to a scribe who, not understanding ~~?1::1, read
"~?t;i ''third" (see his Commentary, p. 102). Such a view seems

4
See Bevan, p. 101.
 CHAPTER V. 229

highly improbable, as it would imply the interpretation that

the reader of the mysterious writing should reign over th('
kingdom on alternate days with the king himself!
9. i"W::Jni!iti. Cf. Assyrian sabasu "rage"; Asurb. c. iv. 88; c.
vi. 108, and the substantive sibsu, Asurn. ·ii. 106.
12. "1\!i~ti and l!t"1i!iti. It is simpler, in agreement with Bertholdt,
Daniel, p. 378, n. 15, and Kautzsch, op. cit., § 40; rerq. 1, to
read .,l!ci~'? and :-tj~,;, infinitives, following V. : Quia spiritus
amplior . . . . et interpretatio somnorum et ostensio secretarum
et solutio ligatorum inventae sunt in eo. Bar and Delitzsch,
however, read .,l!ci;ir,i and :-tj~'? (Liber Dan. p. 11) as participles,
cf. 0: on 70J/3Vµa nleun:ov ev aln:,p Y.ai (f!QOV'Yj<Jtg xai <JVV8<Jlf;
ev avi-<-,.u avrxelvwv evvnvw ~ai avayyeUwv xea1:ovµeva xui
kvwv avvoeaµovg. It should be noticed that if "1l!ci;I'? be read,
this is the sole instance of the Pael of this stem in Biblical
Aramaic. Sec Kautzsch, op. cit., p. 65; rem. 1.
13. ", l!tin i"lM~l!t. This is not necessarily a question; sec
above p. 110.
16. ,~in; see on ii. 10, p. 204.
17. 7r,~::i1~?, but n::it~? ii. 6. Both readings may be correct 5•
18. l!t~,r.i nri~l!t "Thou O King". · This is a nom. absolute
pointing forward to the suffix of 7,::il!t. See ii. 29.
19. i. j":ll:-tl from V ,,1, "to tremble". The same stem is seen
in the Assyrian zu, "storm, bird of the storm"; see Zimmern,
ZB. p. 94.
19. ii . .,n,r.i"lp jtl ?,r,, "fearing before him"; cf. Assyr. lapan
esriti ... aplaxma "I reverenced (before) the shrines", Asurb.
c. x. 78; also I. R. 11. 14, etc.
19. iii. l)tr:,,;i. Ptc. Haph'el ofl!t;l:1 "to live". The older authorities
considered it the participle of l!t!:'9 "to strike", evidently reading
here l:'ollJ~ 6 • 'l'hm,, 0 translated xai. OVf; ~flm').,exo ahor; frvn:uv,
while V. has percutiebat. It is uow generally accepted, how-

• See Kamphausen, p. 28. • :-tl:,'9 still appears in Hahn's Van der

Hooght edition of the 0. T, 1896.
280 l'HJLOLOGICAL COl\DIEKTAllY.

ever, that i:-tl:)~ is correct and that this is the participle of 1:-t;~
"to live", as indeed the context plainly shows 7 • For this form
:o:,~ of the Haph'el ptc. of i:-t;~, we may compare the Syriac
Aph'el axi, with the participle maxe. Such forms are based
on the analogy of the verbs media: geminatce. Cf. Noldeke,
Syr. Gr., § 183, and the Aph'el abez, partc. mabez, from the
stem Vn:::: i:-tti~ is not, therefore, to be considered as repre-
senting an original 1:-t;';l~, as Kautzsch thought (op. cit. p. 29) 8 •
Such an analogy between N"r"I and the stems media: geminata:
found in the imperfect and in the Aph'el of the verb in Syriac,
is easily understood when it is remembered that the primitive
form of N"r"I is ,.,n (xaylwa-intransitive) a trace of which is
s ~(/_,;
still found in the Arabic 1.:)1~ "animal", and in the Aramaic
i:-tt;i1"tl• This w, became naturally ""r"I, which was itself a form
,ll. It is interesting to note here that Syriac Aph'el forms
like abez, parte. mabez, of ll:l verbs are in their turn based on
the analogy of verbs ,~. Thus, the Aph'cl of Syriac n•faq is
appeq_, partc. maJ)Jieq. For analogy in the Semitic languages,
in general, cf. Huizinga, Dissertation, Analogy in the Semitic
Languages, Baltimore, 1891.
20. i. l:l'"J is a perfect passive, a form like the Heb. in-
transitive r,~.
20. ii. N~; 1, from N"o'1::i, vii. 9; cf. Heh. N\p~, Assyr. kussu.
It is possible that the word has a non-Semitic origin, as
the Sumerian form is guza. The ., which appears in Aram.
No.,::i, Nc.,,::i and Phoen. 0"0'1:i was probably inserted to compen-
sate for the resolution of the doubled o. A similar phenomenon
S ,CI"J;..
is seen in Assyr. annabu "hare", Heh. n?,.?;1'.ti Ar. ~;I and
perhaps in xa{tu "sceptre", Heb. ~';i::t 9 •
20. iii. N'1i'",, read 1'=1jj'"I parallel with r.n:-:,,::i,~. So P.
and V.

7
See Bertholdt, Dan. p. 362, 19; Hiivernick, p. 196 etc. s Of.
Noldeke, GGA. 1884, p. 1018. • ZB. p. 13 (Haupt). See on n:::~i:-t,
iv. 9, i. p. 220.
 CHAPTER V. 231
21. "1i.;i• This reading as a passive like ,,.,~ is possible
and, moreover, is indicated as the correct one by the old
translators; @ ioo:hj. Vers. Mass. 1:e:fefrai, V. positum est,
P. est"we. See also Lengerke, Daniel, p. 259; Hitzig, Daniel,
p. 84. Kautzsch, op. cit., 1-1· 81, however, reads here ,,~\;}, a
third pen,. pl. Pa'il, unnecessarily transferring the , from the
following word 1:1:n 10 • For the use of this verb ,,u; with the
preposition 1:1::, cf. P. St. John v. 18, and in Hebrew the con-
struction 1:1:; ;,Uil;j~ ill 'P xxviii. 1; 'P cxliii. 7. In Hebrew the
construction 7 nri:i is also found; cf. 'P xviii. 34. A precisely
equivalent usage is that of the Assyrian ermi kima; for which
see AL. 3 Deluge, p. 183.
26. 1"t?'1~~ '!i1?.t;1 i:'l~~ i:'l~~- Clermont Ganneau was the first to
understand the real meaning of i:'l~l;j, ;,p!"l and b"i!l 11• During
an epigraphic mission to the British Museum in 1878, he found
that the three letters on certain half mina weights which had
previously been read w,p were in reality W'i!l paras "half". As
the weight bearing the inscription was equal to that of half
of a light mina, he concluded that W"i!l must mean "half mina" 12 •
This discovery led hin1 to decide that, on the set of Ninevitic
weights engraved with letters approaching in form to the
Aramaic characters, the three words t<~r. ''mina", '!ipiv "shekel"
and W"i!l ''half mina" were to be found and that these names
might correspond to the three chief words in the mysterious
sentence in Dan. Y. The general conclusion at which he
arrived was that the two extreme and essential terms of the
phrase in Daniel are two names of weights, of which one
is double the other, placed in relation by a third middle
term which is either a third name of weight, that of shekel,
or the verb "to weigh" from which the name of shekel is
derived.

See, however, Kamphausen, p. 28. 11 JA. Ser. viii. v. 1 pp. 36 ff.

10

12 Abr. Geiger remarked in an explanation of a Mishnic passage in

ZDMG. xxi. pp. 467 ff. that the Tosephta regarded b"i!l in the phrase
t:;ti r;;,;; m~ ·_as "a half mina ".
232 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTAlff.

This attempt of Ganneau was followed by an admirable

paper published Z.A.. i. p: 414-418, by Theodor Noldeke.
Noldeke accepted Ganneau's discovery that the phrase in Daniel
contains names of weights, but clearly saw in ::ij,l:"\ the shekel.
He regarded llm::i :,t~,::i as a repetition of the same word and
accordingly suggested the translation "a mina, a mina, a shekel
and half minas".
A third attempt to explain the enigma was made in 1887
by Georg Hoffmann of Kiel who differed from Noldcke only
in suggesting that !:,pr, "shekel" might be in apposition to :,t~,::i,
explaining ;:,pr, :,t~,::i as "a mina in shekel pieces".
It does not seem necessary, however, to regard :,t~,::i :,t~,::i as :Rn
accidental repetition of the same word. As Noldeke himself
noticed, but did not adopt in his .interpretation, the first i:t~i::i
may be regarded as a passive participle of the verb :,t~,::i "to
count, to allot". In this case the Assyrian original would have
been mani 13 • The verb "to count'' is used in this sense also in
ls. lxv. 12: ::i-,n!:, c:.nllt .,r,.,~,::i, "and I will allot you to the sword";
1P cxlvii. 4: c"':i:.,~;:, -,;ioi::i ti~,i::i ''he fixes the number of the
stars".
The second llt.~'? seems to be the absolute of i:t;?~ mina (Heb.

18 See, however, in this connectio~, Peters, JBL. xv. pp. 115-;-7.

Passives with internal vowel ohange have not been lost in Assyr-
ian, but are not developed. The active and passive participles are
not yet sharply distinguished, the difference being merely arbitrary.
For exrt.mples of the passive participle, cf. the frequent kima labiris,.i
sat-,;r "written like its original", and sapu::e epru "dust is spread". See
Haupt, JRAS. 1878, p. 244. We may compare in, this connection the
frequent passive meaning of the intensive permansive. See ZB. p. 11.
The Assyrian permansive must be considered the prototype of the
common Semitic perfect, as there are no evidenc(ls that Assyrian once
possessed and -then lost its perfect. J. A, Knndtzon in the ZA. vii.
p. 48 (April, 1892), goes too far; however, in demanding a common
name for both the permansive and perfect, as they are by no means
fully identical. The Assyrian permansive is not a stereotyped tense
like the ordinary Semitic perfect, as the language can use any noun
or adjective in a permansive sense by suffixing the pronominal endings.
See in thi$ connection Haupt, Zoe. cit., p. 246.
 CHAP'l'ER V. 233

nJ~; Assyr. manu), which is of course a derivative from ~m:

"to count".
:ii?,r;i is the absolute of ~?P~ "shekel" (Heb. 'i?~; Assyr. siq_lu 14).
The last word j"~'1!11 may be a plural of O'iEl_i!l.,!l "half mina",
iu which case it should be punctuated o.,~,~- The Assyrian
equivalent of this word would be parsu "part'', from parasu
"to separate" 15• Parsu means technically "a section of a
chapter'', or "paragraph'' 16•
Combining then these words as in the Aramaic of Daniel,
the supposed Babylonian original would be: - mani manu siqlu
u parsani.
Both the Greek and Latin versions, in the reproduction of
the mysterious sentence, read only the three words mane, tekel,
peres, omitting one mene and giving parsin in the singular form
peres. This reading may have been due to the influence of
vv. 26-28, where only a single mene and the singular form
peres are mentioned with tekel as being strictly necessary to
the interpretation. P. is the only version which has kept the
text intact: mane m•na t•qel w"J)hnrsin.
It is interesting to notice that one version of the LXX., in
disagreement in this point with the version of Theodotion, has
transferred the words to v. 5 and changes their order, reading
mene, peres, tekel. It seems possible that the copyist of the
original manuscript from which this translation was made
understood the real meaning of the words as names of weights
and without seeing their special application to this passage,
felt the necessity of a regularly decreasing enumeration 17 • The
LXX., however, translate the three words: '(numbered, taken
away, weighed".

14
Cf. Meissner, ZA. vii. p. 20; Altbabylonisches Privatrecht, p. 93;
Delitzsch, AW. p. 44 n. 4, and Lehmann in a metrological paper in Ver-
handlungen d. Berliner Anthropologischen Gesellschaft, 1891, p. 518, n. 1.
15
Pariisu "separate" in Asurb. ix. 46; "check, stop", Senn. vi. 14, IV. R.
57, 7a; "quarrel" in IV. R. 58, 22; "alienate", Asurb. iii. 83. 18 Bab.

Chronicle vi. 39. " Cf. Hebraica iii. nr. 2, p. 36, n. 1 (Ganneau).
234 l'HILULOUiCATa CO.MMEN'l'ARY.

30. "1::.:11.lN:i::i. So Bar. Cf. also vii. 1 ; viii. 1. The correct

reading is of course "l::.N1:.1:i:i, as in v. 1; 22; 29.

CH_APTER VI.
3. i. N~;i! is &rcag )..w6µevov in Biblical Aramaic, but is used
for "above" in Nabatrean; cf. Euting, Nab. Inschr. p. 28. i'='
here means "than"; "higher than"; cf. i'=' N;.l"IN, ii. 39.
3. ii. r::i"lo, also in vv. 5; 7; 8, occurs in T. in the sing.
1,9. It is probably a loanword from some Persian derivative
of sar "head" and means ''a chief'. Behrmann, however, con-
siders it to be Semitic 1• The word is used in T. to translate
c.,,o1ti "writers" or overseers"; cf. Ex. v. 6, etc. The author
of Daniel seems to have used r::i,o in the sense of "general
overseers" or "ministers".
3. iii. N,:i.io ..... ,.,::in., "give account''. For c:;,o "account'',
cf. Ezra v. 5 (see above pp. 214-5 for other meanings). The
construction with ::in., is unusual; cf., however, T. Prov. xxvi.16.
3. iv. 1'1~ "injured"; cf. Heb. i'_J._1 "injury", Esther vii. 4. The
Assyr. stem nazaq_u "injure" is an exact cognate with this root;
c£ the derivatives niziq_tu, V. R. 31, 29 gh and nazaq_u "injury'',
III. R. 65, 15; 32 a.
4. !"\.,'ill~ is a passive participle from r,w:;, "think", used only
here in Biblical Aramaic. Compare, however, !"11¥.:;,t;i:, Jon. i. 6
and !"\!r-i~~, "thought", Joh xii. 5 2•
5. i. N~!;' "cause, pretext"; arcag ),eyoµevov; only in vv. 5-6.
This is an exact synonym of ah;la in the N. T. The word
is construed here as the object of nn::iwn:,, which is dependent
on the preceding ,.,,:i,
5. ii. "'!~~ "concerning". "'I::. in vii. 25 means "against"; cf.
in Heh. Dt. xxxi. 26. The ordinary form of the preposition
in Aramaic is .,.,~.

2
' Dan. p. 38. Noldeke, GGA. 1884, p. 1019; Syr. Gr. § 280.
 CHAPTER VI. 235
6. ~ here means "religion"; cf. vii. 25 and see on ii. 13,
p. 67.
7. ,ll ,w~,n. For this nse of ;l' for ? (Heh. ,~), cf. ii. 24.
The same usage prevailed in later Hebrew; cf. Jer. x.xvi. 16.
8. i. i:'C::i:ir.. 1:1"1' i:'C'.l:l"P' "to establish a royal decree or statute".
So 0. c"p is clearly a construct dependent on :d,r.., which
is used adjectivally as in i:'C::i:ir.. ,oi:'C, v. 13. The Masoretic
punctuation, which necessitates the difficult rendering "that
the king should establish a statute" is probably incorrect 3•
8. ii, ,ollt "prohibition".; c£. ,~~, Nu. xxx. 13. •
8. iii. ::i,, emph. i:'Ci~ "pit''; cf. Heh. ::i~ "cistern"; Assyr.
gubbu "well", Asb. viii. 102. ::i.:. is used in T. as the equivalent
of Heb. ,,::i.
8. iv. i:'C~);"l~, pl. of n.:"l~, vii. 4. A singular form correspond-
ing to this plural is given by Merx, Chrestomathia Targumica,
p. 172, e. g. llt)";")~-
11. m"'I M"'I)' 1r.J, c£. Ezra v. 11.
14:. "'! is used here four times; c£. ii. 25 and see Kamp-
hausen, p. 29.
lo. i. .,n,:si wi:-c::i "displea;;\ed him". With';,:, like ;;s, '"IElW "please",
iv. 34. Wllt::l in Heh. means "to be bad", especially with respect
to smell and is cognate with Ar. ~L; and Assyr. bu'usu "to
cause to stink", V. R. 45 c. iii. 7; c£. bi'su "stinking, bad",
II. R. 44, 12 ed.
15. ii. '? 1:1~ is practically synonymous with c~t,, 'Ol9; cf.
Heh. ::i, C"\!l, 1 Sam. ix. 20. ;~, which does not occur else-
where in Jewish Aramaic, is undoubtedly a cognate of Ar.
jt_; "heart".
15. iii. "?.~~- So Bar, following M., but see Kautzsch, Gr.
§ 60, 3 b. It should be "?.~~- The word, which is a derivative
of ;;:,, was probably originally *"?~~ and the pathach became
seghol before ;s, like nl'~ry for nl';it:i, v. 7 4 •

3 So Hitzig, Rosenmiiller and Meinbold.

• Noldeke, GGA. 1887,
p. 1020 and Bevan, p, 111.
236 l'HILOLOGlCAL COMMENTARY.

16. iv. ,,rno,;i from .,,llJ,from which .,~"l!i91l;t "rebellion", Ezra

iv. 15, occurs also as ,,1!.l 5• A similar interchange of ., and
:, is seen in the later Persian fonn Babiru for Babilu "Babylon".
17, i:t'1•,n:::.. A derivative from .,,., "revolve". That it must
mean "continually" is seen from T. Nu. xxviii. 6, where it iH
the equivalent of Heb. •w~l'"I. It can have no connection with
,,u,, as Kautzsch thought 6 •
18. i. l'"l~!j•tt• A passive perfect Haph'el, as in iii. 13.
18. ii. ]for the un-Aramaic form l'"l~iz;', read n~iz;, but not
plene n~~i!,l 7; cf. c'!, v. 20.
19. i. 1'"1)9 n:::. "spent the night in a state of fasting". n,i9,
which is retained by P., although it does not occur at all in
Syriac, is a form like n~i? from a stem ::<,~ "to roll, spin",
generally found in the Aph'el; cf. in H~b. m:, Ex. xxxv. 25-6.
The Assyrian cognate is /amii, IV. R. 8, 28-9 b. The meaning
"fasting", found here in Daniel seems to have developed from
the idea of the contraction of the intestines from hunger, e. g.
convolutus, scl. visceribus 8•
19. ii. i,ll'.l':I, from *n,il:):1. The meaning is not clear. 0 and
P. translate "food"; the Rabbinical commentators render it
"musical instruments of percussion'', as if from ::<n, ''push,
thrust". Others. consider that it means "concubines", deriving
it from the same stem. This translation is probably correct,
but the word should be read i?t'l? (so Marti).
19. iii. •n,,:;, ti,~ nrmv. See on ii. 1.
20. t-N:i'11l1!.l •••••• !!tl'm. It is probable that neither expression
is a gloss 9, but that ::<nl:i supplements and intensifies the more
general i:t.,ll.,ll\tl.
22. e, :,,,;i; Heh. ,~ .,~1-
23. ,:t "purity''; cf. Heh. n::it; Assyr. zaku in me attal,xu
ul izakku "the waters ·which I disturbed are not pure", K.
257, Obv..25-6; also adj. zaku "pure, clear, free".
6 Nclldeke, ZDMG. xl. p. 735. " Gr. § 60, nr. 6. • Kautzsch,
Gr. § 45, 1, d. 8
So Behrmann, p. 42. • See Kamphausen, p. 30.
 CHAPTER VII. 237

24-. i. ~i:,i;,~ ::i~t;i- For•;, see above on v. 15. :.~9 seems

to be formed on the analogy of 11)~:p. The regular stem is
:.,., and not ::JND.
24-. .ii. nptm, resolution of rlJ?tr~ (cf. nl:,:im,, 1v. 3), for au
original nj:)!:ion; cf. iii. 22.
25. n~,.,i-t "bottom", from ,.,i-t, ii. 39.
29. n;,3t, is intransitive here as in Ezra v. 8. In iii. 30,
however, it is transitive.

CHAPTER VII.
1. ,~;,:i UlN.,, cf. P cxix. 160: ,.,:., UlN.,.
2. i. ~.,~, only in this chapter. The ordinary form is ~;~;
see v. 8 and on ii. 31.
2. ii. N~;.; 'O:l'. See on iii. 33 (iv. 3).
2. iii. in•:-.r.i, from n~~, is probably transitive "stirring up the
great sea", as in T. Gen. xxi. 10: j,M::t~ ell llt'.:l.,i' n:-.~, "he will
stir up war with Isaac" 1 •
4-. i. ri;i;, from ;iii "wing'\ cf. T. Job xxxix. 13 1t~,::., from
;i,:-. "fly", Ar. u~ 2 • The Assyrian gappu "wing'', IV. R.
16, 65-6 is a cognate of this word.
4:. ii. l"l'Q~i?O, a regular Aramaic Hophc al form; cf. Kautzsch
§ 45, 3;. 5.
5. i. :.':! "bear"; cf. Heb. :.':!, The Assyr. daM "hog'', al-
though not from precisely the same stem, may be a cognate;
Senn. Const. i. 35.
5. ii. !'\'Q~i?t;i must be changed to the Hophal l"i'Q"i?O. as in
v. 4: "and it was raised up". See Kautzsch § 45, 3; 5 and
Kamphausen, p. 31.
6. i. .,;:.. So Bar. Better ""inN:.; see Kamphausen loc. cit.
5
6. ii. -,,:i:i "leopard"; Heb. .,W, Ar. ~, Assyr. n·imru, IV. R.
5, 17-18.

1 See Levy, Chald. Worterb. 2 Noldeke, GGA. 1884, p. 1019.

238 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

6. m. ::i.,:ii~ (Q"re ::i:ii~) is probably plural and should be trans-

lated "sides" 3• Assyr. gabbi, "part of a sacrificial animal"
may be a cognate; Str. III. 247, 3. The stem of :l, is :l;l,
s •-
Ar.~.
7. i. .,,l"'li.J"l:t for l"'l"ll"'l).J"t:t, like .,.,nt:t. It is a fem. absolute
state of lt''?~·
7. ii. n~~,; Haph. ptc. i=Jp"I. This reading is correct.
7. iii. i"lt>El"I "stamped" from c!l-i, cf. Heb. i:l!:l"I; Ass:,,T. rapasu
"crush in pieces, thresh", V. R. 17, 27-29cd; cf. narpusu
"threshing sledge", V. R. 17, 32 ed.
8. i. l!t'";-,':, clearly a diminutive like the Heb. "l":itt; Is. xxviii.
10; 13; Ar. kutaib; see Ols. Gr. § 180.
8. ii. rij:hc, so Bar; not l"iR?tli see Kautzsch § 25 b.
8. iii. ,.,,:>:l't"ll!t. The fem. form of the (tre i"l"lj:l:;ll"il!t is unneces-
sary, as a common gender is peculiar to the Biblical Aramaic.
See on v. 5.
9. i. ,.,i.J.,, cf. on iii. 20. l!ti.J"I is used of placing a throne also
T. Jer. i. 15.
9. ii. j"'i.J,., i'"l"i:I', cf. t:l").J"::l 1:t::i. Jos. xiii. 1.
9. iii. j"::l::lW. See on iii. 22, p. 217.
10. i. t:l"El;l!t. The Aram. l"ll;l!t of the ~re is correct, see
p. 222, on iv. 14, iii; t:l"W~l!t.
10. ii. 1'9-"1, which should be U:P"1, is pure Aramaic and the
(tre j::l::l"I is merely an unnecessary Hebraism 4 •
11. On the text of this verse, see Kamphausen, p. 31. It
does not seem necessary, according to some commentators, to
consider that the first r-,.,,n nn, is an erroneous repetition of
the second. M. is probably correct.
12. i. 1""ffl7 is a circumlocution of the passive per£. "had
been taken away''.
12. ii. 1"1?1~ is a substantive "prolongation"; cf. on iv. 24.
13. w;~ "I~, cf. ,,.,:ll!t :~;i., iJ1 lxxii. 4; also :>l!t"IUl" .,,::;., etc.
15. i. t"l:"1:Pt:11:t from t:t"I~, cf. Kautzsch § 47, rem. 2. The

3
So Bevan and Behrmann. • See Kalnphausen, p. 31.
 CH AP'rEH VII. 239
Assyrian kart1. ato cause trouble, pain, or grief'' is clearly a
cognate; cf. V. R. 2, 54; also kuru "trouble", IV. R. 59, nr. 1,
15 b; ZB. p. 92, n. 1.
15. ii. ;~.,,, ~)l!t .,ri,,, cf. also viii. 1; 1 Sam. xxv. 24, for
the pronoun constmcd with the suffi.'{.
15. iii. ri.~7~ from *·1-,). So Bar. The same word appears
in Heh., 1 Chron. xxi. 27 with the meaning "sheath". It
should probably be punctuated here r.i.n? "its sheath", e. g. "my
spirit was troubled in the midst of its sheath" 5 • The ,vord
is of Persian origin.
17. 1"¥1::t, fem. is better here than the masc. ,~~f::t.
18, i. j"')i.,,:;, "'#'':!~. This is a strange expreEJsion, because
in iv. 10, u,-.-,i' is used of an angel. The author seems to wish
to emphasize here the divine character of the Israelitish people.
As they were the holy on~s of the Most High (ii"?~), he calls
them by a slight turn of expression "the most high holy ones",
e. g. those pertaining to the Most High, using ,,.,;:;, adjectivally.
The unusual plural of the word is to be explained in this
way. It is not a plural of majesty. i,.,;:;, is of course not
Aramaic, which would be ~;,~:;,; cf. iv. 14; 21.
18. ii. j1)9J:'.:, Haph. of jOti; see on ii. 37, p. 210.
18. iii. l!t":Q;~, ,:;, is omitted by LXX. and @; see Kamp-
hausen, p. 32.
19. l"'i":l:i "I desired"; see on iv. 14, p. 222.
20. ,..,.,!lli j~"T ~")"11', "and (as for) this horn, it had eyes".
The , in j")":;,, is the explanatory copula, as in viii. 10; 24.
25. i. -r:i1.:, "against"; see on vi. 5.
25. ii. ~~~; "destroy"; cf. Assyr. ba"tu in napsatas uballi "He
destroyed their life", AW. p. 174-.
25. iii. ri,, cf. on ii. 13; vi. 6.
26. :lt:); is the Pe' al imp£. of ~l'.1; and not a contracted
Ithpe'el 6 •
• See also Kamphausen for other views. • So Behrmann, p. 32.
See Kamphausen. p. 32.
240 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

27. n::i-.r,-. is a vivid perfect with the sense of a future

per£. "shall have been given".
28 . .,,, ;i,n1ll" .,,.,1,, cf. v. 9.

CHAPTER VIII.
I. i. For the form -,::,:wr:-c,::i, see on v. 30, p. 234.
I. ii.,~.,i, .,,r:-c ..;r:,c r,r:,c-,i. See on vii. 15, ii; p. 239.
I. iii. r,,r,n::i "before"; cf. Gen. xli. 21; Is. i. 26. A better
expression would be niwr:-c-,::i, 1 Kings xx. 9.
2. i. r,-,-.::in, a late Hebrew expression, is probably a loanword
through the Syriac from the Assyr. birtu "fortress", I. R.
Asurn. ii. 129. It is used N eh. ii. 8 of the Temple stronghold
and has passed into the Greek of LXX. in the form (:Jaetg
as a word for fortress 1,iJ.,~. In' Jos. Ant. xv. 11, 4 (:Jaeir;;
is used, as in Nehemiah, especially to denote the Temple as
the fortress and palace of Jhvh.
The classical Greek word (:Jaetr;; "a flat-bottomed boat used
in Egypt", Her. ii. 41; 96; 179; (:Jae(:Ja(!Ot {:JaeuJer;;, Eur. i.
A. 297, has probably no etymological connection with the
{Ja(!tr;; of LXX. and Jos., but may be an Egyptian loanword.
It is interesting to notice, however, that the Scholiast on
..iEschylus Pers. 554 knew of the other usage of the word,
as M adds the comment that (:Jaetr;; "boat'' is from (:Jaetr;;, which
is a Persian city!
2. ii. c,.,:i, is the Heh. form of Assyr. Elamtu, a fem.
formation from elammu "highland".
2. iii. ,;~r:-c "bank" is evidently connected with C")J -.;::i-., Is.
xxx. 25; xliv. 4 and with ,~~., "canal", Jer. xvii. ·8. Whether
or not it is connected with the Assyr. ubbal, the present of
abalt.i "bring" (so Jensen), is very doubtful.
3. i. ir,r:,c ,.,r:-c "a ram". For ,.,r:-c, cf. Assyr. alu "stag'', II. R.
6, 11 ed. ir,r:,c is plainly the indefinite article as in viii. 13;
1 Kings xix. 4, and even in the older books, 1 Sam. i. 1.
 CHAPTER VIII. 241
3. ii. c'l_?,i? and,.,ni? (v. 7)for the dual punctuation C';.tli?, 'l":~i?•
4-. i. rm.,_ . The Pi' el of mi is used also 1 Kings xxii. 11;
2 Chr. xviii. 10, in the sense of overthrowing enemies.
4-. ii. :i.,1~r:i (scl. n,w,:i J+ Hitzig and Meinhold translate
"became great" as in our own A. V., but the rendering "did
great things" is better; cf. v. 10; vv. 24ff., where his great
acts are described.
5. i. .,.,.:i:::t is a late Hebrew word for ,,n,, cf. vv. 8; 21;

---
Ezra viii. 35; 2 Chr. xxix. 21. The stem is probably cognate
with Ar. ~ "jump, spring'' with uca as in
~· ,.,.,.
,-.a,, ~:::t.,_
,.,i'
5. ii. !"\'\TM ,.,i'
= M~.,tl as in 2 Sam. xxiii. 21 Q•re. See
Kamphausen, p. 32 on n~T,:t; also v. 8.
6. '\M::i nr.iM:::i "in the fury of his power". For nr.iM "fury'',
cf. Is. lxvi. 15. ·
7. i. :i:::t~ after a verb of motion, as in Gen. xxxix. 10.
:i:::t~ !l'"~r.i is more vivid than the ordinary usage with .,,.
7. ii. ,.,:,~ .,r.i.,r.il"\.,,. A late Hebrew· form; also in xi. 11.
See Bevan, p. 30.
8. ,:i.,~ n,TM rii:i:;n,. This text can hardly be correct, al-
though von Lengerke, Ewald and Behrmann endeavour to trans-
late it as it stands. Gratz and others read r,i-,)J~ instead of n'\TM,
following LXX. Ih:eea, which makes both better sense and
grammar; viz., "and there arose others, e. g. four, in place of
it toward the four winds of heaven" 1 .
9. i. r,.,.,,:::tr.i is undoubtedly corrupt. Instead of r,-,.,,:::tr.i r,r,~,
we. should read with Bevan, p. 13, r,-,.,:i,;:i r,-,r,~ i.,i=', following
vii. 8. The only objection to this theory is that the r,r,~ of
M. appears in both the Greek versions; fv, which might
only show, however, that the error was very ancient. See on
this passage Kamphausen, p. 33.
9. ii. .,:::i:::tn = .,:::i.:n r~, xi. 16; 41. It is possible that we
have here a paronomasia with ~:::i:. of the next verse, i. e.
glory - host of heaven. The LXX. wrongly read ;i.:i:..

1 See Kamphausen, pp. 32-33.

Prince, Daniel. 16
242 PHLLOL0GlCAL COMMENTARY.

10. 1. ~::i::th jl.:I. Partitive jr.i, as in Ex. xvii. 5; ;,~'iW" "~j:,fr.i.

10. ii. o.,::i:,i:,n jl.:I,. This is the explanatory copula "namely,
of the stars", as in vii. 20; see above p. 239.
11-12. This text as it stands aefies interpretation. The
difficulty really lies in the change of gender between this
v. 11 and vv. 9-10; 12. The text of vv. 11-12 should perhaps
be amended as follows: ,.,r.ir.in c'in ii,;i,:i., n:i.,"lm ~::i!l.n 'i\:l -,:;.,i 11
•T- -\ ~•• 1' •:• TT- - -:

h:f'7~ I'\'?.~ 1?.1fZ:1 :I'-}~~ ,.,7,1~1'} ;,~ jl:i~ r.J~?;t'i 12 :iiri,p,;: ji:.'? 129~1
: nn.,:iin,
T • : ·• :
nr,\tl:;,i
T ~ 1' :

"And even unto the prince of the host it (£em. the horn)
exalted itself and from him (the prince of the host) wa8 taken
away the daily offering and the place of his (masc. the prince's)
Sanctuary was cast down. And its (fem. the horn's) host was
appointed against the daily offering on account of iniquity.
And it (the horn) will cast down truth to the earth, and will
undertake and carry out successfully". It should be remem-
bered that in v. 11 the fem. word "horn" was probably the
subject of ':,.,.,~h, which must therefore have lost an original
final n, perhaps by dittography with the following ,. Thf'
unnecessary assumption of a change of gender here with the
word ''king" understood as being the subject of some of the
verbs and the fem. j'ii-' of others is what has caused all the
confusion.
If the above translation be accepted, the (?re O'j~ must be
read instead of the K•thib O""JI'}. In jNI'\ ~::i:;; of M. (12) -the
r: probably stands for an original h which formed the suffix
of ~::i:;;, e. g. r.i~~~ "its host (the horn's)", in contrast to the
host of Israel in v. 11. I cannot agree with Moore in rejecting
~::i:;;. 1:-:~ should then become il:l~ Niph. in accordance with
Kamphausen's suggestion, p. 33 2..
For other views, see Bevan, p. 133; Behrmann, p. -54;
Kamphausen, p. 33; Moore, JBL. xv. pp. 193-7.

• ;,:., 11"1~ is used of punishing sins 2 Kings xviii. 14; Jonah i. 14;
Ezek. vii. 3.
 CHAPTER VIII. 243

13. •?i~1f~ can only be the result of an erroneous scribal

contraction of .,i,~,1:-l .,~;El which perhaps arose from the writing
.,~,~,1:-l "El. A cognate with .,l,El is the Assyr. reduplicated form
pulpul ''a certain one", frequently occurring in the legal phrase
pulpul mar pulpul "A. the son of B." 3 ; cf. also Ar. r,,:,J'jJ·
The extremely difficult text of this verse should perhaps
be revised as follows :-ui':,j,'! . . ril:) O?.\!:.iiJ ,~i:ii::,, ..
. . ,.,,;i~i::, jitl'.). •t:,~ '1;'1
= tr~";~? 1:-l~:r

"For how long is the vision of the daily offering and of

the devastating transgression? (For how long shall there be)
a giving over both of the Sanctuary and the host to tram-
pling?" The question is thus divided into two clauses, each
reverting to .,n~ .,,, It seems better to read here finite verb-
forms, which can be done without any radical alteration and
not attempt with some commentators 4 to introduce extra words
into the text following the corrupt version of LXX. The
sentence can be made intelligible to the reader with only three
minor cl;ianges; viz., the deletion of the n in M. iitMn, which
may have arisen from a dittography with the preceding ,, the
insertion of n before the Pilpel participle c~it: = 'O~\ti'?, and
the introduction of ; before o~-i~.
For the idiom c~..,_~, jm, cf. ncm~, jm "to give over to de-
struction", Is. xlii. 24, and for other views on the passage in
general see the commentaries already referred to under the
preceding verse.
15. i. ", •ll:ol "r'll:ol-,_:J, cf. vii. 15.
15. ii. "l:ll is evidently a paronomasia with the following
,K,..,_:l~.
lo. iii. c'1K ,ii, "a human voice" like c'11:-l 1:i "a human being".
16. i. ,~.,"J~~ "man of God" with the relic of the gen. ending
as in ,~.,~~-
16. ii. t~i::,, also Ju. vi. 20; Zech. ii. 8, is the abbreviated
form of n,J}l:1, cognate of the Ar. relative 1.5J..II.
• See Haupt, BA. i. p. 114. 4 Bevan, p. 135; see also Kamp-
hausen, p. 33.
244 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

17. 1. :i 1::in "instruct" is unusual, cf. Job v1. 24. It is

generally found with r-.~, as Neh. viii. 9.
17. ii. ,"l"?~, also v. 18 from '1)?,S "place", is a late Hebraism
which occurs also x. 11; Neh. viii. 7; 2 Chr. xxx. 16.
17. iii. o,~ j::l pn ''Give attention, 0 human being". This
usage of i,::i is peculiar to the Qal, 'P xciv. 7 and to the
Hiph. ls xxix. 16.
· 18. ,ri,:i,-,~. This stem generally means "to lie in a deep
sleep", Pr. x. 5; Jon. i. 5; cf. n~1i~- In our passage, how-
ever, it evidently means "to faint, swoon", as in x. 9;
lff lxxvi. 6.
21. i. -,,:;,wn "the hairy one"; not an adj. "hairy", qualifying
.,,El~. For this expression, cf. 0,1:;,n ,,:;,w, Gen. xxxvii. _31 and
the Assyr. cognate sartu "hair", especially of a goat, in IV. R.
5, 32f-34fc; sarat unilci.
21. ii. 1,, 1,r.1; cf. Assyr. Yamanu {with middle m pronounced
w ~ ,

like w); 0. P. Yamui and Ar. ~b~. All these expressions

arc of course variations of 1wvla 6•

22. i. .,,~r.1 should probably be , ,~r.1 "out of his nation",

following LXX.
.... 0 , ~ ....

22. ii. n:ir.1:;,, is really an archaic form; cf. Ar. ~~- It

is probably wrong here and should be read :,~'ir.1:;,n 6 •
23. o,:;,w.in onn:;. It is not necessary either to change orin
to on, Gall, p. 49; Behrmann, p. 5 7, nor with Meinhold and
Ewald to alter tl"~qilil to Cl"~~~' following the versions 6 •
24:. i. ri,~!:i.i: is not the object, as in xi. 36, but is used
adverbially ''wondC'rfully", as in Job xxxvii. 5.
24,. ii. ri,r,w,. Bevan, inspired thereto by Gratz, who pro-
nounces thi,s passage suspicions, wishes to read for ri,r,w,, Mnitl"
or M"ill", which seems unnecessary.
25. i. i!:i:;w (25) ,:;,, ti"Ul'li' c~,. Gratz and Bevan, following
LXX. xai 87Cl TOUf; ayiovr; 1:0 OtaVO'fjflU av1:ov, suggest the
reading i,:;w 0,lll'lj:' ,:;,,. It does not seem advisable, however,

• See above pp. 78-9. 6

See Kamphausen, p. 34.
 CHAPTER IX. 245

to introduce a radical textual alteration like this, where it is

possible to explain the received text satisfactorily. The prob-
ability is that the , in C•\ll"li' c:i,i is the explanatory copula,
as in v. 10; vii. 20.
25. ii. ni!iw:i; also x. 21; 24. This word means "peace"
everywhere else in the 0. T. thus, •[I cxxii. 7; Pr. i. 32;
xvii. 1; Jer. xxii. 21; Ezek. xvi. 49. In Daniel it undoubtedly
means "suddenly, unawares" like the Syriac men shelya. It
is a synonym of the Greek i~an:iva in 1 Mace. i. 30 where
the same event is mentioned .
. 27. i. •!i•!:irm •li•n!l as it stand~ may mean "I became ill",
the two verbs being co-ordinated: "I became and I was ill(?)".
As the meanings "became" 7 in such a construction or "fainted,
was finished" for n•n!l are doubtful 8 and as the LXX. dis-
regards •li•m here as well as the following , 9, it is perhaps
better to cancel it entirely and read simply •li•!:in:i. •r;•m may
have arisen as an erroneous dittography for the following •!"l•!:iM!l.
27. ii. r:i'r.l j"1:ti. This phrase must refer to the 1 p. subject
of cr.i,l"l\lli:ti ''and I was astonished .... and was no understander
(thereof)"; cf. xii. 8: 1•:11:t 1:t,, "l"lllr.iw •!l1:ti.

CHAPTER IX.
1. i. wi'"l1WM~ is a corruption of the original Persian
Khshayarsha = Xerxes, lit. "eye of the kingdom". The form
of the name in the Aramaic inscriptions is. W'"l•Wn; cf. CJS.
pt. 2, p. 125.
1. ii. 7,r.i:i. Hoph. only here in the 0. T.
2. i. •n!l•:i "I understood, perceived". This is probably an
irregular Qal perfect form like r::i for j:i in x. 1. The only

7 • See references quoted p.· 200, n•n!l = happen. 8 See on ii. 1,

p. 200. 9 This in itself is of course not a sufficient reason, as f-J

translated •!"N'1!l by c!xo1.,u~,'rrrv "I fell asleep, fainted".

246 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

parallel case in Heh. is n,:::..,.,, Job x:xxiii. 13. Neither "1"1~"::l

nor r,::i can possibly be shortened forms of the Hiph. 1 as the
older commentators thought 2 •
2. ii. niliot;,i.:i really a rt";, infin. Pi' el for the regular :-t~;i?,
In late Hebrew the verbs :-t", show a marked tendency to
assimilate themselves to the n";, paradigm; cf. Siegfried u.
Strack. Neuheb. Gr. § 97 c.
5. On 9t;'.l~~'-!I'? without pl., see Kamphausen, p. 35.
6. ';,~ without Maqqeph as in Is. xxxvi. 12. For the text-
ual di:fferences between the versions of Bar and Ginsburg,
see Kamphausen, p. 35.
9. i. n,n.,;,o. The singular nn.,;,o occurs 1/i cxxx. 4 and the
plural in Neh. ix. 7.
9. ii. ":l is concessive here "although", as the translators of
the A. V. correct!y saw; cf. Ex. xiii. 17.
11. 11'!1t:i.'.I from 7l'i~; cf. v. 27, used of pouring out wrath
also 2 Chron. xii. 7; xxxiv. 25; Jer. xlii. 18; xliv. 6.
13. M:-ttn n::,,n !,:; !"\liot. Although this is most probably the
subject of the following verb n:-t::i, it is also attracted by the
preceding passive participle :ii!"\:), so that it receives the sign
of the accusative !"\:-t as the subject of a passive. nl.'.,n !,:) n:-t
may be construed both as the subject of nit::. and of :::.in:; 3•
17. i. o~~ "desolate" occurs also Jer. xii. 11; Lam. v. 18.
It was probably used purposely in order to connect the
desolate Sanctuary with t1i.:1Uln l.'UJ£1n "the desolating trans-
gression" in viii. 13 which was the cause of the Sanctuary's
condition, and also with the "Ul Y,~Ul in v. 27 and xii. 11
which described the sacrilegious act of Antiochus Epiphanes.
· 17. ii. .,~,:-t 1:.,~,. Although it would be possible with Hitzig,
p. 150, to retain the text here on the analogy of Gen. xix. 24,
where the proper name is used instead of the personal pronoun,

1 Cf. Noldeke, ZDMG. xxxvii. pp. 525 ff. 2 So Hitzig, p. 145.

• See also Bevan, p. 151, who quotes 1 Kings ii. 21, but cf. Gesenius-
Kautzs~h, Gr. 26 § 117. 1. Behrmann, p. 61 makes n::,-,r, ;,:; M:-t depend on
:-t":::.n';, in r. 12; cf. Kamphausen, p. 33.
 CHAPTER lX. 247
the combination seems a harsh one. The LXX. read here
t'vexev 1:wv oovlwv aov, c. g. 7,,:.:; i:?sil;, which Bevan, p. 1.51,
proposes to accept. The simplest emendation, however, and
probably the correct one is that of 0 who reads E'vexb aov
Kvete, .,~.,~ 7~::r.il;, "for Thine own sake, 0 Lord". Behrmann's
idea that this is a gloss (p. 61) is quite without foundation.
18. i. ni,p~ Q"t·e is preferred by most commentators to the
shorter K•thib npEI 4 •
18. ii. ,~.,mMI"\ 0,1,.,Ei,;:i. For this idiom, cf. Jer. xxxviii. 26,
which is an extension of the Qal usage; cf. Ju. xxx. 7.
21. i. n~r,1;1:p. See above, p. 240 on viii. 1.
21. ii. ;:ir~ 9~'t· These words have been explained by some
commentators 5 as being derivatives from t'J:I'", viz., the Rophal
Z7~'t = 9~~r.i, or from a noun ;ir; like -ii?;, neither of which forms,
however, occurs elsewhere. Moreover, the stem 9:;, never
means "to hasten", but always "to be weary" as in Is. xl. 28.
The probability is that we really have here derivatives of t'Ji:I'
"to fly'' which can also mean secondarily "to proceed with
great rapidity". Thus, it is used tropically of the swift march
of an army, Is. xi. 14 and of the progress of a fleet, Is. lx. 8.
If the text of M. be retained, Z7)):>.:1 may be regarded as the
Hoph. of t'Ji:i 6 , while 9::.,,:. should perhaps be cancelled entirely
as an erroneous dittography from 9;,r.1; cf. 0 rcnoµwo~ "flying'',
with no qualifying adverb. As the Roph., however, is a area§
uyoµevov and therefore seems to be a somewhat unnatural
usage for the Qal or Pilpel 7, it may not be out of place to
suggest that 9:;-.:. ;;is,,;:i of M. is a corruption ~£ an original
Pilpel participle t:]Eli:.,r.i, as in Is. xiv. 29. The reading of LXX.
1:axei rpeeoµevo~ .does not necessarily prove the existence of
the obscure ;;i:.,":., but may have been simply a free rendering
of ;iEii1r.i as applied to an angel, e. g. not "flying", but "hastening,
rapidly" 8 •

• See Kamphausen, p. 35; Hitzig, p. 151; Behrmann, p. 63. s So

Hitzig, p. 151; Havernick; von Lepgerke, etc. • So Behrmann, p. 62.
7
Cf. Gesenius, Thes. p. 610. • See on this passage Kamphausen, p. 36.
 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

21. iii. "?~ ~ii "approached me", from ~~l. This verb is
construed with :iK, Jon. iii. 6; Jer. Ii. 9; Job iv. 5.
22. j:..,,. LXX. read K:..,, "and he came", but cf. Kamp-
hausen, p. 36.
23. nnK rwm:in .,::i, cf. n,-,,~,., Ul"K, x. 11; 19, but there is
no necessity for the supposition that the word Ul"K was originally
in the text; cf. Kamphausen, loc. cit. n,.,,~,., really means
"preciousness", as in xi. 38; 43. It is never applied to persons,
however, except in Dan. i].. 23; x. 11; cf. n,-,~,., .,,::i, Gen.
xxvii. 15; n,.,,~n en\ Dan. x. 3. The reading of LXX.
eA.eUVOf; and for x. 11 av:f(!Wrt:fJf; eleuvog presupposes, as Bevan
correctly states, an original n~"19!J, but this is not a sufficient
reason to alter the text of M. here.
24-. i. c.,,~~ instead of rm,:.1%i, as Ex. xxxiv. 22 et passim,
is peculiar to Daniel; cf. x. 2ff.
24. ii.. 11:17:1,~ is a well known late Heh. wor<J, but a .ana§
ky6µevov in the 0. T.
24-. fii. n1Nt;1i"t cnn,, ,UlEll"I i:,t;,::i;,, Kethw; r"IJ:,tt;)I"! cnn,,, Q•re.
The Pi<el form N~~, however, is strange, as it occurs nowhere
else. It should probably be the Qal infin. N'?? which would
harmonize better with the second member of the KetM,b er.ii;,):,.
The singular form nK~!J of the Q6re, altered in order to cor-
respond with the sing. ~UlEI of tne first member, is unnecessary.
· For cnn in the sense of"seal up, complete", cf. Ezek. xxii. 15.
25. i. nii:.,, :.-.Uln;,; tini:.i, :.,wn. Bevan suggests the emen-
dations :l"'i()n:i and :.~~ from :.Ul-., e. g. "to people and build"
and "shall be peopled and built" (cf. Is. xliv. 26; Jer. xxx. 18;
Ezek. xxxvi. 10).
25. ii. Y,"'1.ni :.,,.,.,. The last part of the verse really baffles
interpretation. The chief difficulty is in the word Y,"ln, re-
garding which there are many views. Gratz, renders "public
places and walls", altering y,.,n to rn; cf.. 0 n:lau:la xai
1:eixog. Bevan makes a still better emendation to yin ''street''
and translates "public places and streets". Behrmann suggests
the possibility that both words ,~ay be proper names of certain
 CHAPTER IX. 249

well known parts of Jerusalem near the Temple. Perhaps

the safest course is simply to leave the word ')'1'il"l unaltered
and to translate upublic. places and trencp.es", understanding
it to refer n9t to the fortification trenches, but to the irrigation
ditch.es of the gardens, following the usage of the word in the
Mishna and Talmud 9 • The idea would then be that Jerusalem
was to be entirely rebuilt, both in its public places and private
gardens; in short, that the city was once more to be a fit
residence for Israel.
25. iii. _o.,n,n j,i~::i,. It is absolutely impossible to make
sense 10 of these words, unless with the older commentators we
emend j,i~ to fi' and connect the phrase with Gratz and Bevan
with the following verse: o.,:,::iu,:, .,.,nl:(1 o.,r,:;it, yi'::i, "And in the
end of the times, namely after the sixty two weeks" 1 t. The ,
in .,.,nl:(, is probably the explanatory copula.
26, i. ,; ,.,1:(,. Many commentators believe that the text is
mutilated here and that some word like 1.;~ 12 or '"1.!~:l' 13 has
fallen out, but the w~ole question is doubtful. If the text .
of M. be correct, these words may perhaps be translated "and
there shall be no one for him" e. g. no one to follow him(?) 14•
26. ii. l:)9aj "overwhelming flood", cf. xi. 22; Nah. i. 8; 'I'
xxxii. 6.
27. i. 1:1.,::i.,, l'\"'"l:i .,.,::im,. · Behrmann tries to translate th~s
phrase without altering the text "and he shall causf many to
be so haughty that they shall exalt themselves over the
covenant", e. g. he shall cause many of the Israelites to dis-
regard the divine law of Jhvh. Such a rendering, aside from
the syntactical difficulties in the way, does not give a true
picture of_ the policy followed by Antiochus Epiphanes. His
chief method of bringing the covenant into disrepute an1ong
• See Levy, Neuhebr. W5rterb. 10 See Behrmann, p. 63; Bevan,

pp. 155ff., Kamphausen, loc. cit. for full discussion of the various views.
11
In spite of Behrmann's attempt to make it mean "und zwar wenn
die Zeiten knapp gerechnet werden". 12
So Fell. 13 So Gratz,

following xi. 45, but see Kamphausen, p. 37. u So also Behr-

mann, p. 63.
250 PHlLOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

the Jews was not to sneer at it and thus make the people
ashamed of it, but rather to persecute all who disobeyed his
commands. Cornill's rendering, therefore, "He will make the
covenant difficult for many" is better, but necessitates the
reading ,.,:.::in 15 for ..,.,:i~n. Perhaps the best suggestion is that
of Gratz who substitutes '"i"::l!l'H for -.":iln. This can only mean
"and he shall abolish the covenant for many", e. g. he shall
make it impossible for many to perform their religious duties.
Bevan, p. 160, reads -.~~H; "and the covenant shall be annulled'',
but this seems too radical a textual change.
27. ii. ctii\llti 1:1"::t,p'ill ;i~::i ;:;,,. For i:i~::i ;:;, read ,i::i ,~, cf.
xi. 20 16 : "and instead thereof (thcfe shall b~) a desolating
abomination", Y,P1ll, sg., cancelling the final syllable of l:i":::i:,p'ill
as a possible dittography with the 1:1 in the following t:1ti11l!lti 17•
27. iii. ,~1 should probably be pointed ,~1 which must mean
"but furthermore".
27. iv. H::t'"lrm n:i::i "ruin and judgment". These words are
probably borrowed from Is. x. 23; xxviii. 22, as Bevan con-
jectures (p. 160).
27. v. t:1ti1ui' for otiittiti, Pilpel participle "the desolator'1 • This
is parallel with cti11l!lti y,i:,w "the desolating abomination1'.

CHAPTER X.
1. i. "l::tW~~:,:i, cf. v. 30.
1. ii. ~:i::t "the distress was great''; ~:i:::i: as in Is. xl. 2; Job
x. 17.
1. iii. j":i an irregular Qa1 perfect for j~. See above on
"n~":i, p. 245. LXX. and A. read here unnecessarily r:i" = r::.,.
15 Not "l":i::i:,, Kraetzschmar, Die Bundesvorstellung im A. T., p. 234,

n. 2. See Kamphausen, loc. cit. 16

See Kuenen, Historisch-kritisch
Onderzoek ii. p. 472. 17 There are nearly as many opinions regarding
this passage as there are commentators.
 CHAPTER X. 251
2. cN:::i" t:1"!11:lW nw,lll "three full weeks"; also v. 3. t:l"r.i" is
pleonastic.
· 4-. ,r.,,n "the Tigris". The form of the name with n has
excited some discussion. The usual Assyro-Babylonian desig-
nation for this river was Diqlat, but the form Idiqlat occurs
II. R._ 50, 7 d; Sb. 372, and it is probable that this is the
prototype of the He~. l;,r.,,n and of the Samaritan l;,p"'!n. The
modern form Tigris (Greek Tl..yrp1i;;) is a corruption of the Old
Persian Tigra which itself was a legitimate developement from
Diqlat with change of original , to ., 1•
5. ,;i~~ must be an error for "'l"~~l!t in spite of LXX. Mwrpa't;.
6. i. w~ .,,.,El; parallel with j,"l:l; cf. Ex. xx. 18, where it is
actually used of lightning.
6. ii. ,.,l"'l,,:..,r.i probably simply "his feet"; cf. Ruth iii. 4; 7; 8.
,.,::i~,.
6. iii. ;l;,r., l"'IWl"'I~ The translation "polished" for ;l;,r., is
not satisfactory. The expression here is undoubtedly borrowed
from Ezek. i. 7 which is probably a corrupt text. Cornill
suggests that we should there read l"'li,r., t:IH"El~~, l"'!Wm j"::l~. As
Bevan points out, however, if the text of this verse in Daniel
is corrupt, the corruption is older than our Book. The exact
meaning of this text can therefore not be known, because it
is impossible to decide as to how the author understood ;l;,p.
7. l!t:lnn::i should perhaps be ~:inn,, unless we translate
"seeking to hide themselves", i. e. they fled being in act of
hiding themselves 2 •
8. .,,::, 7Eln~ .,.,,n,, cf. v. 9 and vii. 28 Aram. l;,::, ~~w.
11. i. l"'li"'!r.iM Ul"l!t. Sc·c above on ix. 23, p. 248.
11. ii. 7.,r.i_, l;,::, "'!r.i::,. See viii. 16; 18.
11. iii. "'l"!l'"lr.i. Cf. also Ezra x. 9.
13. cw "l"'l"ll"IU ")l)t',. The Niph< al of V "ll"I" cannot mean "to
conquer, get the upper hand" (Gesenius -Buhl s. v. "'!l"'I"), as
there is no parallel in Hebrew usage for this translation.

' Cf, Delitzsch, Para.dies, p. 170. 2 See Kamphausen, p. 37; Bevan,

p. 167.
252 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

"lrm always means "remain O'[er', or "behind"; Ex. x. 15; Gen.

xxxii. 25. It is· also not necessary to render it "while I had
remained behind" as a pluperfect 3, but simply "Michael came
to aid me while I was left alone there}}, etc.
14-. "'l=?: for "'i?: from n"li', possibly owing to the influence
of Gen. xlix. 1 : 'C"~n 1'"1""11"'11(::1 C::ll'"II( llt"li'" "l\llllt l'"lllt c::i:i n,.,~I(,, which
may have suggested this passage in Daniel 4 •
17. i. 7l"b is undoubtedly a Palestinian .Aramaism for 1"~,
cf. 1 Chron. xiii. 12.
17. ii. n1;1~,;;,1 0 duo i-ov 11v11. Some commentators declare
this to be unsatisfactory and suggest the readings n~::ir.i (as
Jcr. viii. 15) or ni=,i"lr.i as in v. 11 "from fear'', but this is not
necessary. r,r,:,r.i is probably equivalent to nr,:, "now" like TI$',?, Is.
xlviii. 7 for 'tt· Translate: "and as for me, now strength does not
remain in me", etc. LXX. ~<1-9{1117<1a, but P. omits it entirely.
19 . .,,r.ii should probably be "l'"lir.i:i,.

·CHAPTER XI.
2. ,,., ri,::i;r.i r,~ :,:in "i"l"I. This use of til!t is strange, but we
may infer that the verb cn!:in';, was understood after ;,:in. There
seems to he ilo reason to amend the text with Bevan, p. 172.
3. :iuir.ir.i, a late Hebraism for n:iwr.ir.i. In 1 Chron. xxvi. 6
';,u,r.ir.i means "a ruler''.
4:. i. ,,r.i=,i::i ''When he (as soon as he) shall stand up'' may
very well be retained. Several commentators, however, suggest
the alteration ir.i:ll:3'::i "and when he had become strong}}, following
viii. 8 1•
4:. ii. rti~1, a Jussive form which has lost its significance,
as ·in vv. 16; 28.
5. p,n.,, ,.,.,u, 1r.ii. For this use of 1r.i compare v. 7 and Ex.
So Bevan, p. 168, but see Kamphausen, p. 38.
3
• So Bevan,
Kamphausen, but cf. Behrmann, p. 68.
1 See Kamphausen, p. 39.
 CHAPTER XI. 253

vi. 25: ,~.,tmi l:"\1:::ir.i. The , in jr.il is simple copula and the
, in i''ll"I.,, should probably be cancelled as an erroneous repe-
tition, although it is possible to regard it as the explanatory
particle; cf. vii. 20, p. 239.
6. i. 1!:'-,11 "lr.i!l'., ~,, should probably be i!l'"]'I -,,:i~., ~,,, .following
0 "and his seed shall not abide".
6. ii. "rn jl:"\!ll:"\I. This is an extremely difficult text which·
is really incomprehensible. We should perhaps read: i:i;-,r1
: '1:1.,1'.'t!ll ::tj?!tp~i ::i,?~t11 ~~.,~'?I !!t.,t,, altering jl:"\!ll:"\I of M. and reading
'1:1.,1'.'t!ll with Behrmann, p. 72. For other readings, see Kamp-
hausen, pp. 39-40; Bevan, pp. '174-5.
7. i. ,.,nn ,~ ~::i.,, may mean "and shall come to power'',
although Bevan suggests the emendation ,~~ cry.,l?~ ~;;1 "and
shall bring an army against them (the Syrians)". There seems
to be no reason for changing the text, because the author may
have simply written "the army", meaning the Syrian army.
This would be quite iu accord with his promiscuous. use of
suffixes and his obscure syntax in this entire chapter.
7. ii. :a. nw!l', cf. Jer. xviii. 23.
8. 1:11'.:).,=?'Q~ is perhaps an error for '1:11'.:).,;?t?~ from 70:. If the
vowels of M. are correct, however, it must be from a singular
form :).,!?: = 19,~, Is. xlviii. 5.
10. i. ,:i::i,, K•thw should of course be ,.,!l:a.1 Q6re.
. 10. ii. ,.,~l:"\.,, so K•thw, although it would be easier to follow
the Q6re and read n"'l~l:"I".
11. "'lr.i"'lr.il:"\.,, See on .viii. 17, p. 241.
12. i. l:"\1~::i.,, an Aramaic form instead of the classical l:"\1:a.:a."'1;
cf. the reverse in vii. 10.
12. ii. m,.,, Ifor this use of n-;, cf. Koh. vii. 19.
13. i. C"!lll!' c"l:"\!l'n yi,,,. This phrase is certainly very ob-
scure. Unless we follow Behrmann and others in regarding
'l:i"r"l!l'n as a gloss from v. 14, the only proper translation is that
of Lengerke: ''At the end of the time"; viz., of several years.
This rendering, which is indicated in the margin of thb A. V.,
254 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

seems perfectly allowable. Bevan, however, suggests that b")Ul

may be a scribal addition to explain O"M~h.
13. ii. ui,::i., generally means "possessions, riches 2" (v. 24),
but here seems to denote "weapons, warlike implements".
14:. i. e.,::i.,. LXX. cftavouu "plans, devices". Karnphausen,
p. 40, mentions the ingenious opinion that the original text
had b"=;l~ "Libyans", referring to the rebellious Egyptian
provinces and that the LXX. erroneously read Mi:..~. There
is no reason, however, to alter the text on the strength of this.
14:. ii. 7r.i:;, .,:i.,,!l ")::!. Bevan changes this ingeniously, but
unnecessarily, to 1'il:;; "~"!~ "~-jl "those who build up the breaches
of thy people" 3 •
14:. iii. ~1:'t~.?:, Hithp. impf., as in Nu. xxiv. 7.
15. i. rii'i:i::ir.i .,.,:;,_ LXX., P. and V. read ri,.,:i::i c.,,.,, but
this is unnecei,sary. l:"\i'i:i::ir.i is unusual; the word commonly
used is 'i:i::ir.i.
15. ii. ,.,,n::ir.i t:1:ll is very strange, but the meaning is clear.
Behrmann compares the expression 1:'t::i:in o:i,, nr.iri,r.i o3'; cf.
2 Chron. 36, 19.
16. For n,::i read m~::i with Bertholdt.
TT T \

17. i: 11:"\i::i,r.i ,::i should probably be 11:"\1::i,r.i ,~. The change is

absolutely necessary to make a satisfactory translation.
17. ii. !:li'l"i::1 "with energy''. i:ii,ri is a late Hebrew Aramaising
form, cf. Esther ix. 29 and the adjective •ri?t:i, Koh. vi. 10.
17. iii. hUl!ll1 1r.i!!) 1:1,-.-,u,.. , should be nUl:ll" ir.i:;, 0""111!'"r.i1, in spite
of Kamphausen's objection to changing the t:1".,Ul" of M.
18. i. 1'1)!) ::!Ul"1, so K•tMb. 'rhis is better than Q"re t:IW"1,
following v. 17, because ::iui.,, denotes a fact, act.ual motion
and not merely an intention or purpose as in v. i7.
18. ii. r:ii:, is used of a military leader ,Josh. x. 24 and ·
Ju. xi. 6; 11.
18. iii. ,, ::i.,w., iri!l'iM .,M,:i ,, il"l!l.,M. The first ,, must evi-
dently b<' cancelled as Behrmann saw. As it is clear that

• ZATW. i. p. 196. 3 See above p. 176.

 CHAPTER XI. 255

has only a negatiYC' force, the word cannot possibly be

,r,'!,::i
correct in this passage where the sense requires an adversative
particle. l suggest therefore that we read ,::ii:-t "but" (Dau.
x. 7; 2J), of which •!"!'!,::i may be a textual corruption 4•
·20. ri,::i,r.i '"!"inw,,~ .,,::il'r.i. Bevan transposeR this "'rn '"l•::il'r.i wm
and translates "an exactor who shall cause the royal dignity
to pass away", referring to 2 Sam. xii. 13, but this is not
necessary. I have no hesitation in adopting Karnphausen's sug-
gestion (p. 41) here and interpreting mm "exactor" as referring
directly to Seleucus IV. himself. It seems unlikely that '"!"in
can be an allusion to Palestine like ,:;i:;t in viii. 9.
21. i. ni,w::i "unawares"; also viii. 25, see p. 245.
21. ii. l"lij,'!,j,'!,n; also v. 34, means "slippery places" in P
xxxv. 6; Jer. xxiii. 12, but it occurs in Daniel with the second-
ary idea "treachery''.
22. i. There is no reason for reading t'Jb~t:i with Bevan
instead of 1:191¥,tli c£ ix. 26.
22. ii. l"l,-r::i .,,,) ''a Prince of the Covenant", e. g. the High-
priest; cf. ix. 25. If the author had intended to express the
idea "ally'', he would have used the phrase ,ri,.,::i '!,:,:: as in
Gen. xiv. 13. t",'"l::i alone without the suffix can only refer to
the Covenant with God; cf. r,,.,::in ,~,r.i, Mal. iii. 1.
23. i. jr.l is used here in the sense "by means of"; c£ Job
iv. 9; P xxviii. 7, etc.
23. ii. r-ii'"l:lM!"\M, Aramaising infin. form.
23. iii. ,,~ in the sense of "partisans" is peculiar to this
passage.
24. i. n),,r.i ,)r.iWr.i may mean "the mighty men of the province"
in accordance with Is. x. 16; P lxxviii. 31, but this rendering
seems unnecessary.
24. ii. l:ln,. Cf. the remarks on the obscure syntax in v. 7.
24. iii. '"lit::i,. Only here and in P lxviii. 31.
26. i. ,,::i-r,EI. Cf. on i. 5.

4 Cf. however Hitzig, Bevan, Behrmann, Kamphausen, etc.

 256 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

26. ii. =,ir,\\)'; should probably be i:i;;:~';; so Bevan and Kautzsch-

Marti correctly.
27. i. .,,',? in pause for :ll'.J',1 from :.,:.,-,, a form like "I~',? from "l"l:it.
· 27. ii. ti:i::i:n N:i "it shall not prosper''. The subject is in-
. definite ; cf. Is. vii. 7, for a fem. verb used in this way.
29. n~i"ltiN::ii niiWN"l::i i'flnt'1 i:t:i, "And verily the latte~ shall
not be as the first". The subject is really nml'"!Nl"I, to which
the :ii are prefixed, in order to strengthen the comparison
(c£ Ezek. xviii. 4).
30. i. C"!"l::i tl""::i:. cN·,::i is of course an adjective here.
30. ii. tiN::i, "he shall lose courage" is an Aramaic form,
occurring also P cix. 16. The Heh. cognate is nn::i.
30. iii. :::iw,. There is no necessity for translating this word
with the following tlS'ti "and he shall again be angry"; so
Hitzig.
30. iv. nw.i, as in v. 28.
31. i .. tl.r.iwr.i rij:)wti should perhaps be tlr.iwn Y,i'Wrt or tlr.iWr.in "wn
as in viii. 13 : tir.iw .iwin for tir.iwn "in 5 •
32. i. ?'1""1:::l ":ll'IW"lr.i, cf. tl":::l"ln "i'""l::i:~, xii. 3. =-'"W"lti is intran-
sitive in late Hebrew.
32. ii. !:)"~I"!" "he shall make apostates". For the various
· meanings of this stem, cf. ZDMG. xxiii. p. 635.
32. iii. nijll?J:;, which has the same meaning as t11j:):ij:):in
v. 21; 34, is an adjectival formation like ni.i~i?- We generally
find n\j,~J:;, pl. of n~?':), cf. if'' xii. 3; 4.
32. iv. .,.,n:iN .,,.,., tl:ll. tl!I' is ,treated as a collective noun;
cf. the pl. .,:.,,.,, but with the sing. suffix in ,.,n:iN referring back
to it; cf. Jer. vii. 28.
34. t1ij:l:ii,:in:::i "treacherously". There is no reason for altering
this to *ni:i~?~? with Behrmann, p. 77.
35. i. tin:.. The :::i of the object, not "among them" (Meinhold;
cf. Siegfried u. Stade, Hehr. Worterb. s. v. l:J"l::1:).

• For other views, especially that of Nestle in ZATW. 1883 that this
is a co1Tuption from tl":OWn :i:::::i. i. e. Zeus, see Bevan, p. 193.
 CHAPTER XI. 257

= =
35. ii. i~??1 i~?lJ?~ r~?lJ?~- Hitzig amends to j~??~ which
seems unll€cessary.
36,. i. c,;N ;N; c£ the equivalent Aramaic expression i"M;N n;N,
ii. 47.
3'6. ii. r-,,t-t;~,, cf. vii. 11.
36. iii. c=:1 n;:i, a quotation from Is. x. 25.
38. ,,:i ;:i, must mean here "instead thereof", as elsewhere
and not "upon his pedestal", referring to Zeus (Leng.).
39. i. Some expositors suggest reading 1:1i;~ c:;, for "N c:i:,
referring the allusion to a heathen people with whom Antiochus
garrisoned the strongholds, or whom he directed to keep the
fortified places in order, but there is no need for such a change
which, moreover, is unsupported by the Versions. n,;N c~·
"with a god" can mean "in support of a god" and would be a
natural expression in the mouth of a Jewish author who might
speak thus scornfully of a man supporting a heathen deity,
reversing the ordinary use seen in Gen. xxi. 22; xxvi. 3.
39. ii. "\,:in is quite correct, but should be vowelled "'l"!i/l"J-
For this verb in the sense of "favour", cf. Dent. xxf·
17. The
construction with a perfect in the protasis and an imperf. in
the apodosis has an exact parallel in Dent. xv. 14: 7~"'l::i "\UJN
,; j!"l!"I ,,n,N n,n.,_
39. iii. :,,nr.i::i p,n, nr.i,Ni "and he shall divide the land for
gain". The translation of V. "gratuito" which Behrmann, p. 80,
has sought to uphold has no support from the text. Behr-
mann's emendation to "'l"Mr.i::i N!i is unnecessary.
4-0. n?Jl:';, cf. viii. 4.
42. n-,,;~; n,n, cf. Gen. xxxii. 9.
4-3. i. ,,r.i:ii:i, &n:ag leyoµevov in the 0. T., is an Aramaism;
cf. Frankel, p. 243.
4-3. ii. ,.,.,~~i:i::i for ,,;l"'l::i, c£ Jn. iY. 10.
4-o. i. ,~.,~N ,,nN :i,-,,,. ,nN :i,.,, 6 is used here instead of

' Cf. I~. Ii. 16; Eccl. xii. 11.

Prince, Daniel. 17
 256 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

26. ii. l:'ri~i.;i: should probably be 9\'1~;; so Bevan and Kautzsch-

Marti correctly.
27. i; ':1:1 in pause for :l'j?,;I from :;,:.,-,, a form like '"I~',? from '"l'"l::i:.
27. ii. n'l;,::i:n tt:, "it shall not prosper''. The subject is in-
. definite; cf. Is. vii. 7, for a fem. verb used in this way.
29. n:,.,ni:t::ii nm,~.,= n,nn ~;, "And verily the latter shall
not. be as the first". The subject is really nmnNn, to which
the !:li are prefixed, in order to strengthen the comparison
(ef. Ezek. xviii. 4).
30. i. c,i,::i c,,::i;. c,i,::i is of course an adjective here.
30. ii. nN:i: "he shall lose courage" is an Aramaic form,
occurring also IJJ eix. 16. The Heb. cognate is nn::i.
30. iii. :.w,. There is no necess~ty for translating this word
with the following c,,, "and he shall again be angry''; so
Hitzig.
30. iv. nw:;,, as in v. 28.
31. i., cr.iwr.i y,i,wn should perhaps becr.iwn y,i,wn or cr.iwr.in "wn
as in viii. 13: cr.iw :.,u,gi:, for cr.iwn "gin 5 •
32. i. i,,-,:, ,:;,,w,r.i, c£ c,:::i'"ln ,p,-r::i:~, xii. 3. :;,,u,-,n is intran-
sitive in· late Hebrew.
32. ii. 9,:n, "he shall make apostates". For the various
meanings of this stem, cf. ZDMG. xxiii. p. 635.
32. iii. MijP?tJ, which has the same meaning as Mi)':,)':,n
v. 21; 34, is an adjectival formation like ni~~i?· We generally
find r,ii'~tJ, pl. of n~?l'.1, cf. ip· xii. 3; 4.
32. iv. w,:,tt .,,.,., c:;,; c:;, is ,treated as a collective noun;
cf. the pl. .,,.,,, but with the sing. suffix in ,.,n:itt referring back
to it; cf. Jer. vii. 28.
34:. ni)':,p:,n:. "treacherously". There is no reason for altering
this to *r,i:,i??~? with Behrmann, p. 77.
35. i. cn:::i. The :. of the object, not "among them" (Meinhold;
cf. Siegfried u. Stade, Hehr. Worterb. s. v. 9'"1::i:).

• For other views, especially that of Nestle in ZATW. 1883 that this
is a corruption from Q'lr.JWM :,:;,:., i. e. Zeus, see Bevan, p. 193.
 CHAPTER XI. 257
35. ii. j;.i??1 ;;.i?iJ?~ = = r~?iJ?~- Hit!l:ig amendR to ,~??~ which
seems unnecessary.
36: i. c,!,N !:IN; cf. the equivalent Aramaic expression i"'n;N n!:>N,
ii. 47.
3'6. ii. r-,iN!:>Ei,, cf. vii. 11.
36. iii. t:1=:1 il!:>::i, a quotation from Is. x. 25.
38. ,,::i !,:i, must mean here "instead thereof", as elsewhere
and not "upon his pedestal", referring to Zens (Leng.).
39. i. Some expositors suggest reading l:!~!,!;\ t:1:;, for "N c=:,
referring the allusion to a heathen people with whom AntiochnR
garrisoned the strongholds, or whom he directed to keep the
fortified places in order, but there is no need for such a change
which, moreover, is unsupported by the Versions. ni!:>N t:1~·
"with a god" can mean "in support of a god" and would be a
natural expression in the mouth of a Jewish author who might
speak thus scornfully of a man supporting a heathen deity,
reversing the ordinary use seen in Gen. xxi. 22; xxvi. 3.
39. ii. "'l"::>n is quite correct, but should be vowelled "'l"~l"J-
For this verb in the sense of "favour'', cf. Dent. :ioq- 17. The
construction with a perfect in the protasis and an imperf'. in
the apodosis has an exact parallel in Dent. xv. 14: 7::i"'l:i "\UJN
,; j\"l\"I ,,n!,N n,n,.
39. iii. :,,nr.i:i i'!:>M"' rtr.i'"INi "and he shall divide the land for
gain". The translation of V. "gratuito" which Behrmann, p. 80,
has sought to uphold has no support from the text. Behr-
mann's emendation to "'l"Mr.i:i N!:> is unnecessary.
4:0. n?}1:"':, cf. viii. 4.
42. :,~.,;El; :,,:,, cf. Gen. xxxii. 9.
4:3. i. .,,r.i::ir.i, a11:a~ ley6µevov in the 0. T., is an Aramaism;
cf. Frankel, p. 243.
43. ii. ,.,.,..,~r.i:i for ,.,;l"'l:i, cf. Ju. iY. 10.
4:5. i. ,~'"IElN ,!,:,N ,~.,,. !:>nN :ii~, 6 is used here instead of

• Cf. I~. Ii. 16; Eccl. xii. ll.

Prince, Daniel. 17
 PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY.

the ordinary' expression for pitching a tent "1t no:, prob~bly

for the sake of variety.
45, ii. j'15lt-t is a loan-word from Old Persian apadana.

CHAPTER XII.
I. i. ,~::,,, "shall arise". ,~:, as in viii. 23; xi. 2; 3; 20.
I. ii. nn.,m 1t;, "such_ as has not happened". See above
p. 200, on ii. l.
2. i. "15l=' n~"1!t is a strange expression·. We expect rather
'j"'l!tn "15ll'!. .,5l,, however, is not an uncommon word in later
Hebrew for_ ''grave".
2. ii. j1!t.,., is found only Is. lxvi. 24, from which passage
it may have been borrowed.
3. i. c'l:,:;;u,~. Cf. Is. Iii. 13.
3. ii. -,m:;; ,.,nT". Cf. Ezek. viii. 2. The stem .,.,nTn "to shine"
is ana~ ).ey6µevov in the 0. T.
3. iii. c.,:l.,n "i'".,~~- C£ Is. liii. 1 (·
4. n.:.i,ti ti:l.,ni C":l., ,oolll". Bevan, following LXX., insists
on translating iuo1!!'., by "they run to and fro (in fear)", a
meaning which is perhaps more natural to the stem than any
other; cf. Jer. v. l. In Zech. iv. 10 and in 2 Chron. xvi. 9,
however, this verb is used, of the eyes of Jhvh surveying,
c. g. "running to and fro" through the whole earth. This
being so, there is no reason why the same stem might not
be metaphorically applied to human eyes carefully perusing
a written document 1 . Bcvan's emendation, .therefore, of n,,ti
to r,,::-,r, ''many shall rush hither and thither and many shall
be the ca"lrunities'' is quite unnecessary. Behrmann's suggestion
. to read ~!)till or o,ui for oolll, following LXX. EWg avlm:oµavwaiv
is equally needless.

1 In Amos viii. 12 -also 00\!l is used with 11!'\":l m the sense of

running hither and thither to seek a thing.

 CHAPTER XII. 259
6. '1K"'M, elsewhere always of the Nile. This general application
of the word here is peculiar to Daniel and the later Hebrew
writers. The Nile is called nar Yaru in Assyrian, which may
be a reproduction of the native Egyptian word 'itr-'3, Kopt.
ior~ which was used to denote the large canal of the Nile 2 •
7. i. I"\%~ in the infin. Pi' el can mean "complete"; cf. Dan.
ix. 24; Gen. xxiv. 19.
7. ii. For .,., 1'!:l.?, Bevan reads 1'~~ .,.,, Behrmann simply
.,., 1'~~, without changing the position of .,.,, both commentators
referring the participle to Antiochus Epiphanes, the "shatterer''.
It is preferable, however, to read 1'~.1; cf. Is. xxx. 30.
11. c.r.iu, y,i,u,. See above p. 250.
13. i.. Robertson Smith wrongly cancels the ~rst 'l'i'; as a
transcriptional error.
13. ii. "lti:.l"I. It is true that -;,:i:; is never used of rising from
the dead in Semitic, but Bevan meets this objection very
readily by the remark that if, as is generally thought, this
belief were a new one in the author's time, a fixed ·technical
term may have been wanting 3 • The regular expression for
the resurrection in later Hebrew is C."lt:"i"1tl n::,r:,r;,.
13. iii. !:i,1~ seems to be used in the sense of inherited por-
tion, as in Ju. i. 3; P cxxv. 3.
13. iv. l:"lti"'M Yi' is an equivalent expression to t:l'lti"l:"'I l"\"1'1l"1K,
x. 14.
2 BA. i. p. 612 and Delitzsck, Par. p. 312. 3
Dan., p. 208.

17*
 ADDITIONAL NOTE I. 1
The last contracts of the reign of Nabonidus are dated in
the month Iyar (April-May) 538 B.C. The date 538 instead of
the usual 539 is necessitated by the nine months' reign of Labasi-
Marduk, unmentioned by the Ptolemrean Canon, which brings
forward the date of the fall by one year. Babylon was taken
on the 16th Tammuz (July 15th) 538, when Nabonidus ceased
to reign. Cyrus entered the city the 3rd day of Marchesvan
(October 27) evidently assuming the reins of government at once,
as the first known contract of his reign is dated in the following
month in his "commencement year" ; i. e. Kislev 16th (December
9th) 538. The official first year did not begin, therefore, until five
months later; i. e. Nisan 537.
As to the exact duration of Cyrus' reign there is some con-
fusion. Although the Ptolemrean Canon gives him nine years as
King of Babylon, a contract exists, dated in his tenth year, giving
him the title "King of Babylon and of the Lands". It is possible,
either that tl1is may- be an error, or that the writer may have
confused the last year of Nabonidus or the commencement months
of Cyrus with the first year of Cyrus' reign. The twenty-nine
years of Herodotus i. 2 I 4 and the thirty years of ·Ktesias (see
Justin i. 8.) attributed to Cyrus, refer to his combined rule over
Anfan and Babylon. It is therefore probable that Cyrus began
to reign in Anfan either twenty or twenty-one years before he
captured Babylon; i. e. about 558 or 559; see Evers, Das Empor-
kommen der persischen Macht unter Cyrus, p. 39, who sets his
birth about 590.

1 See above, p. 14.

 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 261

ADDITIONAL NOTE II. 1

Among the defenders of the authenticity of the book should
be mentioned: Liiderwald, Die 6 ersten Capitel Daniels nach
historischen Grunden gepriift und berichtigt, 1787; Jahn, Dan.
1880;· Dereser, Dan. 181 O (answering Bertholdt); Pareau, lnstitutio
Interpret, v. i.: Royaards, Over den Geest en het belang van het
Boek Daniel, Hag. 1821 ; Ackermann, 1829; Hengstenberg,
1831 ; Havernick (answered by Droysen, Geschichte der Hellenen,
vol. ii. p. 346); Zundel, Dan. 1861; Hilgenfeld, 1863; Kranich-
feld, 1868 ; Keil; Franz Delitzsch in RE 1 vol. iii.; Caspari; Pusey;
Andrea, Beweis des Glaubens, '88, p. 241 ff.: Diisterwald, Die
Weltreiche und das Gottesreich nach den Weissagungen des Pro-
phelen Daniels, 1890, (reviewed by Siegfried, "Theologische Lite-
raturzeitung", 10. Jan. 1891), etc., etc.
It should be mentioned that Franz Delitzsch, in Herzog's RE 2
vol. vii. pp. 469-479, (1878) had greatly modified his views
regarding the time when the book of Daniel originated. He was
not inclined to deny the possibility of a Maccabrean origin, and
even said, (p. 471 ), that the book, consi~ered as an apocalyptic
work of the Seleucidan period, had more claims to canonicity,
than if it were a product of the Achtemenian epoch distorted
from its original form by later hands.

ADDITIONAL NOTE III. 2

The two most important records relating to the fall of Babylon
under Nabonidus and its capture by the Persian Cyrus are the
"Cyrus Cylinder" and the "Annals of Nabonidus", both of which
have come to light recently.
The Cyrus Cylinder is written on a barrel cylinder of unbaked
clay, nine inches long, three and a quarter inches in end diame-
ter and four and one-eighth inches in middle diameter. It was re-
ported by Hormuzd Rassam in the Victoria Institute, Fehr. 2nd,
1881, as being the official account of the capture of Babylon.
The text of the inscription was published in 1880 by Pinches
on the 35th plate of the fifth volume of Sir Henry Rawlinson's
1 See above, p. 14. 2
See above, p. 35.
262 ADDITIONAL NOTES.

Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, and more recently in Abel-

Winckler's Keilschrifttexte, Berlin, 1890, pp. 44ff. The first treatment
of the inscription, embracing transliteration, translation and commen-
tary, was published by Sir H. Rawlinson, Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society, xii 2, pp. 70-97, 1880. Since that time translations have
been given by Sayce, Fresh Ljght from the Ancient Monµments,
pp. 172 ff.; Floigl, Cyrus und Herodot, 1881, which is based on Sir
Henry Rawlinson's work; E. Babelon, Les inscriptions cuneiformes
relatives a la prise de Babylone par Cyrus. Paris, 1881 ; Halevy,
Melanges, Cyrus et le Retour de la Captivite, pp. 4ff.; Tiele,
Assyrische und Babylonische Geschichte, pp. 4 70 ff., a paraphrase;
Hommel, Geschichte As,syriens und Babyloniens; Eberhard
Schrader, · Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, iii. pt. 2, pp. 120-127, a
transliteration and translation based on a collation from a photo-
graph; Friedrich Delitzsch in Murdter:s Geschichte Babyloniens
und Assyriens, 1891, pp._ 259 ff. a paraphrase; 0. E. Hagen, Bei-
trage zur Assyriologie, ii. pp. 205 ff. 1891, transliteration, trans-
lation and commentary from an entirely new collation, Sayce,
Records of the Past, v. new series, pp. 144ff., a new translation,
and finally, J. D. Prince, Mene Mene Tekel Uphar;in, transliteration,
translation and commentary, pp. 66-83, 1893. A transliteration
of the cuneiform text is also given in Lyon's Manual, pp. 39-4L
The Annals of Nabonidus are engraved upon a· gray fragment
of unbaked clay in double columns front and back. The tablet,
as we have it, is about four inches high and three and a half
inches in breadth. The exact measurements are given in Bei-
trage zur Assyriologie, ii. p. 206. Notice of the inscription was
given by T. G. Pinches in 1880, in the Transactions of the Society
for Biblical Archreology, pp. 139-176. See also Athemeum, 1881,
p. 215, an article by Sir Henry Rawlinson who considered it to be the
Annals of Cyrus, and Sayce, Academy, March 13, 18,81, xvii. p. 198.
The text of the document is given by Winckler, Untersuchungen
zur altorientalischen Geschichte, 1889, p. 154, and again lately
from a fresh collation by 0. E. Hagen, 1891, op. cit. pp. 248 ff.,
whose copy differs but very slightly from that of Winckler.
The first translation of the inscription, which was niade by Mr.
Pinches, appeared in the Transactions of the Society for Biblical
Archreology. vii. 1882, pp. 153-169, and was accompanied by an
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 263
introduction, transcription and notes. The same scholar submitted
lines 1-4 of column ii. to a new collation, the result of which
appeared in the Pr-oceedings of the. same Society, v. p. 10.
Translations and paraphrases of the document have been given
by the authors mentioned above as having presented translations,
etc. of the Cyrus Cylinder, the most important being that of 0. E.
Hagen, Beitrage zur Assyriologie, ii., pp. 215ff., with-full commen-
tary.

ADDITIONAL NOTE IV. 1

The name BelsarU1;ur occurs of two other persons besides the
king's son; see above p. 35, note 29.
The most important references to BelsaruQur son of Nabonidus
in the published contracts are the following : -
(a) Strassmaier, Nabonidus p. 184, where mention is made of
NaM-ukJ,n-axi sipiri sa Belsarurur mar sarri. "N. the scribe
of B. the son of the king". Dated 25th Nisan, fifth year of Nabo-
nidus. Translation, Records of the Past, New Series, iii. pp. 124 ff.
(b) Boscawen, Babylonian and Oriental Record, ii. pp. 17-18;
Revillout, Obligations en Droits Egyptiens, p. 895. . . • Strass-
amier, Congres de Leide, no. 'so, Tablet S + 329, 79, 11, 17,
mention of the same_ person, and of Nabu-i;abit-qate, the major-
domo of Bewarurur, the son of the king. Dated seventh year
of N~bonidus. Boscawen concludes from the mention of these
especial servants of the king's son so early in his father's reign
that the prince must have been born before the accession of
Nabonidus, a conclusion hardly warranted by the premises, as the
exact age when a king's son had his separate household is not
known. It should be remarked, however, that if Belsarurur were in
command of the army in the seventeenth an!l last year of his
father's reign, the prince was probably older than seventeen.
Compare also in this connection the statement recorded below,
that in the first year of Nabonidus a plot of ground was sold to
a servant of Belsaruru,r for his lord.
(c) Strassmaier, Nabonidus, p. 581. Translation: Records of
the Past iii. pp. 124-5,. mention of Nabu-Qabit-qate the steward
of Belsarur;ur the mar sarri. Dated eleventh year of Nabonidus.
1 See above, p. 37.
 264 ADDITlONAL NOTES.

(d) Strassmaier, Nabonidus, p. 688. Translation, Records of

the Past iii. p. 124, - allusion lo same official. Dated sixth year.
(e) Strassmaier, Nabonidus, p. 662. Translation by Zehnpfund
· BA. i. p. 527, no. 25, a list of garments: 5 ,;ubat esirti ana xuba
sa kurummate sarri Belsarurur. Dated twelfth. year. This is
the only allusion to the king's son known to me, where he is
not especially called mar sarri. The omission .of the title in
this case was probably because the mention of the royal steward
shows who is meant.
(f) Boscawen, Babylonian and Oriental Record, ii. p. 17, n. 1.
Record of an offering made by the son of the king in Ebarra.
Dated seventh year.
Nabu-,;abit-qate {Nebo seizes the hands) was the name of the
major-domo of Neriglissar (Nebuchadnezzar, 34, 2/6, 1, 5, sec
Strassmaier, Alphabetisches Worterverzeichniss,) and of his son
Laba.~i-Marduk (Neriglissar, 2, 10/6, 2. See Bab. and Or. Record,
ii. pp. 44; 48). The steward of Belsarurur may be the same
person.
To the contracts just mentioned should be added the two
references to Belsarur;ur treated of by Pinches, New York
Independent, Aug. 15, 1889:
(a) Sale of a plot of ground by Marduk-eriba to Bel-resua,
servant of Belsaru,;ur, son of the king. Dated 26 Ve-Adar, first
year of Nabonidus.
(b) The record of a small tablet from Sippar that Esaggila-
ramat, daugh_ter of the king (Nabonidus), paid her tithe to Samas
through Belsarur;ur. Dated 5th of Ab, seventeenth (last) year of
Nabonidus. This payment took place in the month before Sippar
was captured by the Persians. Pinches, op. cit., believed, however,
that it had already been taken. The attempt of Boscawen, Trans-
actions of the Society for Bihl. Archreology, ii. pp. 2 7-28, (fol-
lowed by Andrea, Beweis des Glaubens, 1888, p. 250, Cheyne,
"Encycl. Britannica", vi. p. 803, etc.,) to identify Marduk§aru,;ur,
whose fifth year he thought he had discovered on a tablet, with
Belsaru,;ur is unsuccessful. The contract to which the reference
was made belongs to the time of Neriglissar. See Tiele HGe-
schichte", p. 476, Strassmaier, "Congres de Leide"; n. 115, p. 586.
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 265

ADDITIONAL NOTE V. t
The name of the coin, Oll(?80Cog (Hebrew ,;~;:i~) has been
derived by some from the name Darius 2, but it is extremely probable
that there is no connection linguistically between the two. Putting
aside all other difficulties, the form Oa(?ELXog, if considered 'as an
adjectival developement from da(?eiog, has no analogy. As Georg
Hoffmann has pointed out, ZA. ii., p. 53, forms lik~ U(?aµux6g,
Evflouxog come from uqaµevg, EvfJoevg, etc., and not from an
original -Biog. The x in Oll(?UXog he believes, therefore, is not
of Greek origin 3• The_ derivation, however, which. Hoffmann
suggests (op. cit., p. 56) from Dar-ik = 1.5)1), from Dar "gate";
i. e. the royal gate, has been retracted, Phcenician Inscriptions,
Giittingen, 1889, p. 8.
Bertin, Proceedings, Society for Biblical Archreology, Feb. 5,
1884, p. 87, mentioned that a contract of the twelfth year of
Nabonidus contains the word d,ariku which he believed might
be the original of the name of the coin. This dariku, however,
seems to be the name of some agricultural product. So Tallqvist,
Sprache der Contracte Nabunaids, p. 66. For the word, cf. Nbk.
432, 7, Strassmaier, Babylonische Texte; darika, Nbk. 347. 10;
,idrika-?-571 - also Alphabetisches Wiirterverzeichniss, :No. 1919.
It appears hardly possible, therefore, to connect it with the later
Oll(?ELXOg. While the true derivation of the name of the coin
has probably not yet been discovered, its connection with the
name Darius appears no longer possible. The assertions of Suidas
and Harpocration, that the coin was not named from Darius
Hystaspis, but from some older monarch must thus fall to the
ground, and with them the hope of an identification of Darius the
Median with an older king of this name.

1 See pp. 49-50. ,i Compare Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 353; Lag.

Abh., p. 242, quoted by Hoffmann ZA. ii. p. 50, who regarded ,i<t(!Etxo,
like ,1af!t1x11, as a by-form of Darius. 3 !for the extreme improbabi-

lity concerning the derivation of this word from the name Darius, see
his entire adicle ZA. ii., pp. 49-56. As early as Havernick, Unter-
suchungen, p. 78, n. 3, 1838, the difficulty of such a theory was felt.
 IN DICES.
Index of Subjects.
The numbers refer to the pages.

Alexander the Great, 144---5. Daniel; birth and family, 24-5.

Ammon, 187-8. life and death, 25-6; 61.
Analogical Formations, 229-30. in Ezekiel, 26-8.
Angelo1ogy, 20; 86. name, '197_
Angels, ·85; 90; 157. Darik, 49-50; 265.
Antiochus Epiphanes, 19; 140; Darius of Eusebius, 49.
155; 179 ff. Darius the Mede, 44-56.
Antiochus Magnus, 174-5. Diminutives, 238.
Antiochus Theos, 172. Dura, Plain ·of, 76.
Aquila, 1. Ecclesiasticus, 16.
Arioch, 67. Edom, 187--8.
Article, Indefinite, 208; 240. Ellipsis, 205.
Assynan Language, 11, n. 7. Empires, 6; 129-32.
Astrologers, 62. Eunuchs. 59.
Babylon, Fall of, 53-6; 92-105. Feminine Plural in Hebrew and
Babylonian Traditions, 29:lf. Aramaic, 226.
Belshazzar, 35-42; 91-2. Food, Refusal to- eat, 61-2.
· Berenice, 172-3. Fiery Furnace, 79.
Book of Life, 189. Gabriel, 149-56.
Canon, Position in the, 15-6. Genesis, Imitation of, 29; 67.
Celsus, 15. Guardian Angels, 165-6; 167-8.
Chaldreans, 59-61. Heavens, 87.
Chittim, ·182 ; 256. Horns, 133.
Concubines 106-7. Host of Heaven, 146.
Coptic Translation, 2. Interchange of -, and ,, 236.
Cyaxares (Xenophon's), 48. Judas Maccabreus, 184.
Cyaxares, 51-2. Labasi-Marduk,_ 260.
Cyrus, 163-260. Language, Change of, 11-13; 65.
Dative, 227-8. Characteristics, 19.
Demetrius, 179. Laodice, 173.
 INDICES. 267
Libyans and Ethiopians, 188. , Ptolemy Physkon, 181.
Lions' Den, 124. Ptolemy Soter, 172.
Little Horn, 19-20; 134--5; 145. Queen Mother, 43--4; 109-10.
Loanwords, 18. Resolution of Doubling by ~. 207;
Magicians, 62. 219; 237.
Moab, 187-8. Resolution of Doubling by.,, 220;
Mount Panium, 176. 230. .
M~des, 50-1; 116-22. Resurrection of the Dead, 21;
Media an!l Persia, 143-4. 189-90. .
Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin, Sacrifice, Daily, 147-8.
112-16. Sanctuary, Pollution of, 183.
Mina, 112-16. Scarlet, 108-9.
Musical Instruments, ·77-c-8. Scipio Lucius (Asiaticus), 178.
N abonidus; see Elabylon, :Fall of, Scopas, 176.
Names, 61. Seleucus Callinicus, 174.
Nebuchadnezzar, 30-5; 64; 91-2. Seleucus Ceraunus, 174.
Nineveh, Fall of, 52. · Seleucus Nicator, 172.
New Testament, 23. Seleucus Philopator, 178-9.
Onias III., 147; 180. Septuagint Translation, 1.
Permansive in Assyrian, 232. Seventy Weeks, 151-161.
Persia, Kings of, 170-1. Shaphel, 216.
Persians, 116-22. · Shekel, 112-16.
Peshitta, 2. . Shinar, 58.
Phraortes, 51. Shushan, 142.
Plaster, 107-8. Son of God, 81.
Porphyrius, 14. Son of Man, 137-9.
Prayer; Kneeling Posture, 125. Soothsayers, 68.
Prostration, 165. · Sybilline Verses, 13.
Prophecies, Style of, 21. · Symmachus Translation, 1.
Prophecies, Uniformity of, 9. Ulai, River, 142.
Ptolemy Euergetes, 174; 181. Uniformity of the Book, 9.
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 172. Wild Asses, 111-2.
Ptolemy Philometor, 180. Wives, 106-7.
Ptolerny Philopator, 175. Theodotion's Translation, 1.

Index of the most impiwtant Aramaic Words and Stems.

~,,tt, 202. S?"IN;, 203,
,;~, 208; 237. -,=,.u,N;;,::., 240.
~s~N;, 212. .,1!)~1!);,::., 234.
::.~~. 220. ~:i,::., 205.
t)~N;, 219. N;.,,~, 227.
N;~,~.,~. 228. ·,:i,, 208.
,.,N:, 208; 237. m, 67; 203; 235.
 CORRIGENDA.
The numbers refer to the pages.
2, line 1. Peshitta, read Peshitta.
11, note 7. 'A1aov«&v,,,c1/,, read 'Atfaov«owc,z11,,
20, line 32. Jhoh, read Jhvh.
60, line 1. Semetic, read Semiti~.
line 28. culture•, read culture 1 •
77, line 16. cornel, read cornet.
196, line 21. xi. 12; Dt. i. 4, read 11. 12; Dn. i. 4.
197, line 2. norifial;ir;, read norl{J«Cic;.
198, line 23. 11,ciSewno,, read tJICvSewno,.
199, line 13. (Is. lxi. 1), read (Is. lxi. 11).
203, line 25. "to Aramaic alone, but occurs also in Hebrew", read "to
Biblical Aramaic alone, but occurs also in the Targums."
205, line 30. iii. 14, read v. 29';
210, line 17. j":;)ilt"i (j,~"1) iii. 19, read j"l'iltT (is:i,,,)_ ..v. 19.
223, line 8. 1P xix. 13, read Prov. xix. 13.
224, line 10. (Is. lvii. 8), read (Is. lviii. 8).
225, line 17. n~;,nr:,, read !'ll)'ti~.
226, line 15. Paradies, p. 119, read Paradies, p. 219.
ow.... ....w ....
227, line 19. ~• read r-:i·
234, line 17. i'.P, read 1'11·
235, line 21. iv>34, read· iv. 24.
note 4. GGA. 1887, read GGA. 1884.
246, line 13. Neh. ix. 7, read Neh. ix. 17.
247, line 10. Ju: xxx. 7, read Jer. xxxvi. 7.
248, line 24. t,r,r,, read t,r,r,.
256, line 22. ZDMG. xxiii. p. 635, read xxvi. p. 635.

ADDENDA.
26. The picture of Daniel's tomb is given ·also in Riehm 2, p. 1611.
231. On ba~. v. 21 add the following: l)ts,"!:;) "wild asses". So @. It
seems preferable, however, to read here ilt""i"i!!: "herds" (see
Prince, Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin, p. 111).
235, line 4. Jer. xxvi. 16, read "Ruth i. 19, but see Jer. xxvi. 16."
242, line 4. See for this passage Prince, JBL. xvii. pp. 203-4.
246, lines 6-7. Neuhebr. Gr. § 97 c, add "for the ; of the Infinitive,
and § 105 for the coincidence of the "llt; and "n', ·verbs."
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