Introduction to Daniel
       
• Key
DANIEL, that is, "God is my judge"; probably of the
blood royal (compare Daniel
1:3 a son of David is named so). Jerusalem
may have been his birthplace (though Daniel
9:24 holy city," does not necessarily imply
this). He was carried to Babylon among the Hebrew
captives brought thither by Nebuchadnezzar at the first
deportation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. As he and
his three companions are called (Daniel
1:4 more than about twelve years old when put in
training, according to Eastern etiquette, to be a
courtier (Daniel
1:3,6 new name, by which it was usual to mark a
change in one's condition (2 Kings
23:34; 24:17;
Ezra
5:14; Esther
2:7 favored by Bel" (Daniel
1:7 his countrymen at an early period; probably
owing to that noble proof he gave of faithfulness,
combined with wisdom, in abstaining from the food sent
to him from the king's table, as being polluted by the
idolatries usual at heathen banquets (Daniel
1:8-16 reference to him (Ezekiel
14:14,20; 28:3
should expect; a coincidence which must be undesigned.
Ezekiel refers to him not as a writer, but as
exhibiting a character righteous and wise in discerning
secrets, in those circumstances now found in his book,
which are earlier than the time when Ezekiel
wrote. As Joseph rose in Egypt by interpreting Pharaoh's
dreams, so Daniel, by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's, was
promoted to be governor of Babylonia, and president of
the Magian priest-caste. Under Evil-merodach,
Nebuchadnezzar's successor, as a change of officers
often attends the accession of a new king, Daniel seems
to have had a lower post, which led him occasionally to
be away from Babylon (Daniel
8:2,27 Again he came into note when he read the
mystic writing of Belshazzar's doom on the wall on the
night of that monarch's impious feast. BEROSUS calls the
last Babylonian king Nabonidus and says he was not
killed, but had an honorable abode in Carmania assigned
to him, after having surrendered voluntarily in
Borsippa. RAWLINSON has cleared up the discrepancy from
the Nineveh inscription. Belshazzar was joint king with
his father, Evil-merodach or Nabonidus (called Minus in
the inscriptions), to whom he was subordinate. He shut
himself up in Babylon, while the other king took refuge
elsewhere, namely, in Borsippa. BEROSUS gives the
Chaldean account, which suppresses all about Belshazzar,
as being to the national dishonor. Had Daniel been a
late book, he would no doubt have taken up the
later account of BEROSUS. If he gave a history differing
from that current in Babylonia, the Jews of that region
would not have received it as true. Darius the Mede, or
Cyaxares II, succeeded and reigned two years. The
mention of this monarch's reign, almost unknown to
profane history (being eclipsed by the splendor of
Cyrus) is an incidental proof that Daniel wrote as a
contemporary historian of events which he knew, and did
not borrow from others. In the third year of Cyrus he
saw the visions (the tenth through twelfth chapters)
relating to his people down to the latest days and the
coming resurrection. He must have been about eighty-four
years old at this time. Tradition represents Daniel as
having died and been buried at Shushan. Though his
advanced age did not allow him to be among those who
returned to Palestine, yet he never ceased to have his
people's interests nearest to his heart (Daniel
9:3-19; 10:12
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. Daniel
7:1,28; 8:2;
9:2;
10:1,2;
12:4,5
Daniel himself. He does not mention himself in the first
six chapters, which are historical; for in these
it is not the author, but the events which are
the prominent point. In the last six, which are
prophetical, the author makes himself known, for
here it was needed, prophecy being a revelation of
words to particular men. It holds a third rank in
the Hebrew canon: not among the prophets,
but in the Hagiographa (Chetubim), between Esther and
Ezra, books like it relating to the captivity; because
he did not strictly belong to those who held exclusively
the profession of "prophets" in the theocracy,
but was rather a "seer," having the gift, but not
the office of prophet. Were the book an
interpolated one, it doubtless would have been placed
among the prophets. Its present position is a proof of
its genuineness, as it was deliberately put in a
position different from that where most would expect to
find it. Placed between Esther, and Ezra and Nehemiah,
it separated the historical books of the time after the
captivity. Thus, Daniel was, as BENGEL calls him, the
politician, chronologer, and historian among the
prophets. The Psalms also, though many are prophetical,
are ranked with the Hagiographa, not with the prophets;
and the Revelation of John is separated from his
Epistles, as Daniel is from the Old Testament prophets.
Instead of writing in the midst of the covenant people,
and making them the foreground of his picture, he writes
in a heathen court, the world kingdoms occupying the
foreground, and the kingdom of God, though ultimately
made the most significant, the background. His peculiar
position in the heathen court is reflected in his
peculiar position in the canon. As the "prophets" in the
Old Testament, so the epistles of the apostles in the
New Testament were written by divinely commissioned
persons for their contemporaries. But Daniel and John
were not in immediate contact with the congregation, but
isolated and alone with God, the one in a heathen court,
the other on a lonely isle (Revelation
1:9 PORPHYRY, the assailant of Christianity in the
third century, asserted that the Book of Daniel was a
forgery of the time of the Maccabees (170-164 B.C.), a
time when confessedly there were no prophets,
written after the events as to Antiochus Epiphanes,
which it professes to foretell; so accurate are
the details. A conclusive proof of Daniel's inspiration,
if his prophecies can be shown to have been
before the events. Now we know, from JOSEPHUS
[Antiquities, 10.11.7], that the Jews in Christ's
days recognized Daniel as in the canon. Zechariah, Ezra,
and Nehemiah, centuries before Antiochus, refer to it.
Jesus refers to it in His characteristic designation,
"Son of man," Matthew
24:30 (Daniel
7:13 Matthew
24:15 moment that decided His life (Matthew
26:64 priest adjured him by the living God. Also, in
Luke
1:19-26 is mentioned, whose name occurs nowhere else
in Scripture, save in Daniel
8:16; 9:21
confirms the prophetical part of it, as to the
blasphemous king (Daniel
7:8,25; 11:36
to the miraculous deliverances from "the lions" and "the
fire," in Hebrews
11:3; 3,34
Testament on the three points made the stumbling-block
of neologists--the predictions, the narratives of
miracles, and the manifestations of angels. An objection
has been stated to the unity of the book, namely, that
Jesus quotes no part of the first half of Daniel. But Matthew
21:44 would be an enigma if it were not a reference
to the "stone that smote the image" (Daniel
2:34,35,44,45 second, third, sixth, seventh, and
eleventh chapters. The design of the miracles in the
heathen courts where Daniel was, as of those of Moses in
Egypt, was to lead the world power, which seemed to be
victorious over the theocracy, to see the essential
inner superiority of the seemingly fallen kingdom of God
to itself, and to show prostrate Israel that the power
of God was the same as of old in Egypt. The first book
of Maccabees (compare I Maccabees 1:24 9:27,40, with Daniel
12:1; 11:26
of the Septuagint) refers to Daniel as an
accredited book, and even refers to the
Septuagint Alexandrian version of it. The fact of
Daniel having a place in the Septuagint shows it
was received by the Jews at large prior to the Maccabean
times. The Septuagint version so arbitrarily
deviated from the Hebrew Daniel, that Theodotius'
version was substituted for it in the early Christian
Church. JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 11.8.5] mentions
that Alexander the Great had designed to punish the Jews
for their fidelity to Darius, but that Jaddua (332
B.C.), the high priest, met him at the head of a
procession and averted his wrath by showing him Daniel's
prophecy that a Grecian monarch should overthrow Persia.
Certain it is, Alexander favored the Jews, and JOSEPHUS'
statement gives an explanation of the fact; at least it
shows that the Jews in JOSEPHUS' days believed
that Daniel was extant in Alexander's days, long before
the Maccabees. With Jaddua (high priest from 341-322
B.C.) the Old Testament history ends (Nehemiah
12:11 (The register of the priests and Levites was
not written by Nehemiah, who died about 400 B.C., but
was inserted with divine sanction by the collectors of
the canon subsequently.) An objection to Daniel's
authenticity has been rested on a few Greek words
found in it. But these are mostly names of Greek musical
instruments, which were imported by Greece from the
East, rather than vice versa. Some of the words are
derived from the common Indo-Germanic stock of both
Greek and Chaldee: hence their appearance
in both tongues. And one or two may have come through
the Greeks of Asia Minor to the Chaldee. The fact
that from the fourth verse of the second chapter to the
end of the seventh, the language is Chaldee, but
the rest Hebrew, is not an argument against, but
for, its authenticity. So in Ezra the two languages are
found. The work, if that of one author, must have been
composed by someone in the circumstances of Daniel, that
is, by one familiar with both languages. No native-born
Hebrew who had not lived in Chaldea would know
Chaldee so well as to use it with the same
idiomatic ease as his native tongue; the very impurities
in Daniel's use of both are just such as were
natural to one in his circumstances, but
unnatural to one in a later age, or to one not
half Hebrew, half Chaldean in residence as Daniel was.
Those parts of Daniel which concern the whole world are
mostly Chaldee, then the language of the world
empire. So Greek was made the language of the New
Testament, which was designed for the whole world. Those
affecting the Jews, mostly Hebrew; and this not
so impure as that of Ezekiel. His Chaldee is a
mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. Two
predictions alone are enough to prove to us that Daniel
was a true prophet. (1) That his prophecies reach beyond
Antiochus; namely, he foretells the rise of the four
great monarchies, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and
Rome (the last not being in Daniel's time known beyond
the precincts of Italy, or rather of Latium), and that
no other earthly kingdom would subvert the fourth, but
that it would divide into parts. All this has come to
pass. No fifth great earthly monarchy has arisen,
though often attempted, as by Charlemagne, Charles V,
and Napoleon. (2) The time of Messiah's advent, as dated
from a certain decree, His being cut off, and the
destruction of the city. "He who denies Daniel's
prophecies," says SIR ISAAC NEWTON, "undermines
Christianity, which is founded on Daniel's prophecies
concerning Christ."
CHARACTERISTICS OF DANIEL. The vision mode of
revelation is the exception in other prophets, the
rule in Daniel. In Zechariah (Zechariah
1:1-6:15 the other form from the seventh chapter to
the end. The Revelation of St. John alone is perfectly
parallel to Daniel, which may be called the Old
Testament Apocalypse. In the contents too there
is the difference above noticed, that he views the
kingdom of God from the standpoint of the world
kingdoms, the development of which is his great subject.
This mode of viewing it was appropriate to his own
position in a heathen court, and to the relation of
subjection in which the covenant-people then stood to
the world powers. No longer are single powers of the
world incidentally introduced, but the universal
monarchies are the chief theme, in which the worldly
principle, opposed to the kingdom of God, manifests
itself fully. The near and distant are not seen in the
same perspective, as by the other prophets, who viewed
the whole future from the eschatological point; but in
Daniel the historical details are given of that
development of the world powers which must precede the
advent of the kingdom [AUBERLEN].
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. The exile
is the historical basis of Daniel's prophecies, as
Daniel implies in the first chapter, which commences
with the beginning, and ends with the termination, of
the captivity (Daniel
1:1,21 new stage in the theocracy begins with the
captivity. Nebuchadnezzar made three incursions into
Judah. The first under Jehoiakim (606 B.C.), in which
Daniel was carried away, subjected the theocracy to the
Babylonian world power. The second (598 B.C.) was that
in which Jehoiachin and Ezekiel were carried away. In
the third (588 B.C.), Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem
and carried away Zedekiah. Originally, Abraham was
raised out of the "sea" (Daniel
7:2 nations, as an island holy to God, and his seed
chosen as God's mediator of His revelations of love to
mankind. Under David and Solomon, the theocracy, as
opposed to the heathen power, attained its climax in the
Old Testament, not only being independent, but lord of
the surrounding nations; so that the period of these two
kings was henceforth made the type of the Messianic. But
when God's people, instead of resting on Him, seek
alliance with the world power, that very power is made
the instrument of their chastisement. So Ephraim (722
B.C.) fell by Assyria; and Judah also, drawn into the
sphere of the world's movements from the time of Ahaz,
who sought Assyrian help (740 B.C., Isaiah
7:1-25 been more or less dependent on the world
monarchies, and so, till Messiah, was favored with no
revelations from the time of Malachi (four hundred
years). Thus, from the beginning of the exile, the
theocracy, in the strict sense, ceased on earth; the
rule of the world powers superseding it. But God's
covenant with Israel remains firm (Romans
11:29 is now foretold as about to follow
their long chastisement. The exile thus is the turning
point in the history of the theocracy, which ROOS thus
divides: (1) From Adam to the exodus out of Egypt. (2)
From the exodus to the beginning of the Babylonian
captivity. (3) From the captivity to the millennium. (4)
From the millennium to the end of the world. The
position of Daniel in the Babylonian court was in
unison with the altered relations of the theocracy and
the world power, which new relation was to be the theme
of his prophecy. Earlier prophets, from the standpoint
of Israel, treated of Israel in its relation to the
world powers; Daniel, from Babylon, the center of the
then world power, treats of the world powers in their
relation to Israel. His seventy years' residence in
Babylon, and his high official position there, gave him
an insight into the world's politics, fitting him to be
the recipient of political revelations; while his
spiritual experiences, gained through Nebuchadnezzar's
humiliation, Belshazzar's downfall, and the rapid decay
of the Babylonian empire itself, as well as the
miraculous deliverances of himself and his friends (the
third through sixth chapters), all fitted him for
regarding things from the spiritual standpoint, from
which the world's power appears transient, but the glory
of God's kingdom eternal. As his political position was
the body, the school of magicians in which he had
studied for three years (Daniel
1:4,5 nourished by the earlier prophecies (Daniel
9:2 prophecy, which only waited for the spirit of
revelation from above to kindle it. So God fits His
organs for their work. AUBERLEN compares Daniel to
Joseph: the one at the beginning, the other at the end
of the Jewish history of revelation; both
representatives of God and His people at heathen courts;
both interpreters of the dim presentiments of truth,
expressed in God-sent dreams, and therefore raised to
honor by the powers of the world: so representing
Israel's calling to be a royal priesthood among the
nations; and types of Christ, the true Israel, and of
Israel's destination to be a light to lighten the whole
Gentile world, as Romans
11:12,15 Alexander at the end, of Grecian history
are the mirrors of the whole life of the Hellenic
people, so Joseph and Daniel of Israel.
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK. Historical and biographical
introduction in the first chapter. Daniel,
a captive exile, is representative of his nation in its
servitude and exile: while his heavenly insight into
dreams, far exceeding that of the magi, represents the
divine superiority of the covenant-people over their
heathen lords. The high dignities, even in the world,
which he thereby attained, typify the giving of the
earth-kingdom at last "to the people of the saints of
the Most High" (Daniel
7:27 foundation of his prophecy. The prophets had to
experience in themselves, and in their age, something of
what they foretold about future times; just as David
felt much of Christ's sufferings in his own person
(compare Hosea
1:2-9,10,11; 2:3
[ROOS]. Hence biographical notices of Daniel and his
friends are inserted among his prophecies. The second
through twelfth chapters contain the substance of the
book, and consist of two parts. The first (the
second through seventh chapters) represents the
development of the world powers, viewed from a
historical point. The second (the eighth through twelfth
chapters), their development in relation to Israel,
especially in the future preceding Christ's first
advent, foretold in the ninth chapter. But prophecy
looks beyond the immediate future to the complete
fulfilment in the last days, since the individual parts
in the organic history of salvation cannot be understood
except in connection with the whole. Also Israel looked
forward to the Messianic time, not only for spiritual
salvation, but also for the visible restoration of the
kingdom which even now we too expect. The prophecy which
they needed ought therefore to comprise both, and so
much of the history of the world as would elapse before
the final consummation. The period of Daniel's
prophecies, therefore, is that from the downfall of the
theocracy at the captivity till its final restoration,
yet future--the period of the dominion of the world
powers, not set aside by Christ's first coming (John
18:36 then, would have been to take it from
Satan's hands, Matthew
4:8-10 but to be superseded by His universal and
everlasting kingdom at His second coming (Revelation
11:15 and final destiny of the world powers (the
second through seventh chapters) fittingly precedes the
disclosures as to the immediate future (the eighth
through twelfth chapters). Daniel marks the division by
writing the first part in Chaldee, and the
second, and the introduction, in Hebrew; the
former, referring to the powers of the world, in the
language of the then dominant world power under which he
lived; the latter, relating to the people of God, in
their own language. An interpolator in a later age would
have used Hebrew, the language of the ancient
prophets throughout, or if anywhere Aramaic, so
as to be understood by his contemporaries, he would have
used it in the second rather than in the first part as
having a more immediate reference to his own times
[AUBERLEN].
Exposition of Daniel Chapter One
Daniel 1:1-21
by Jameison-Faussett-Brown
• Key
Verses
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In Process . . .
Daniel
1:1-21. THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
BEGINS;
DANIEL'S
EDUCATION AT BABYLON, &C.
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Verse 1. third year--compare Jer
25:1, "the fourth year; Jehoiakim came to the
throne at the end of the year, which Jeremiah
reckons as the first year, but which Daniel
leaves out of count, being an incomplete year: thus, in
Jeremiah, it is "the fourth year"; in Daniel,
"the third" [JAHN]. However,
Jeremiah (Jer
25:1; 46:2) merely says, the fourth year of
Jehoiakim coincided with the first of Nebuchadnezzar,
when the latter conquered the Egyptians at
Carchemish; not that the deportation of captives
from Jerusalem was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim:
this probably took place in the end of the third year of
Jehoiakim, shortly before the battle of
Carchemish [FAIRBAIRN].
Nebuchadnezzar took away the captives as hostages for
the submission of the Hebrews. Historical
Scripture gives no positive account of this first
deportation, with which the Babylonian captivity, that
is, Judah's subjection to Babylon for seventy years (Jer
29:10), begins. But 2Ch
36:6, 7, states that Nebuchadnezzar had intended "to
carry Jehoiakim to Babylon," and that he "carried off
the vessels of the house of the Lord" thither. But
Jehoiakim died at Jerusalem, before the conqueror's
intention as to him was carried into effect (Jer
22:18, 19; 36:30), and his dead body, as was
foretold, was dragged out of the gates by the Chaldean
besiegers, and left unburied. The second deportation
under Jehoiachin was eight years later.
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Verse 2. Shinar--the old name
of Babylonia (Ge
11:2; 14:1; Isa 11:11; Zec 5:11). Nebuchadnezzar
took only "part of the vessels," as he did not intend
wholly to overthrow the state, but to make it tributary,
and to leave such vessels as were absolutely needed for
the public worship of Jehovah. Subsequently all were
taken away and were restored under Cyrus (Ezr
1:7).
his god--Bel.
His temple, as was often the case among the heathen, was
made "treasure house" of the king.
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Verse 3. master of . . .
eunuchs--called in Turkey the kislar aga.
of the king's
seed--compare the prophecy, 2Ki
20:17, 18.
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Verse 4. no blemish--A handsome
form was connected, in Oriental ideas, with mental
power. "Children" means youths of twelve or fourteen
years old.
teach
. . . tongue of . . .
Chaldeans--their language and literature, the
Aramaic-Babylonian. That the heathen lore was not
altogether valueless appears from the Egyptian magicians
who opposed Moses; the Eastern Magi who sought Jesus,
and who may have drawn the tradition as to the "King of
the Jews" from Da
9:24, &c., written in the East. As Moses was
trained in the learning of the Egyptian sages, so Daniel
in that of the Chaldeans, to familiarize his mind with
mysterious lore, and so develop his heaven-bestowed gift
of understanding in visions (Da
1:4, 5, 17).
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Verse 5. king's meat--It is
usual for an Eastern king to entertain, from the food of
his table, many retainers and royal captives (Jer
52:33, 34). The Hebrew for "meat" implies
delicacies.
stand
before the king--as attendant courtiers; not as
eunuchs.
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Verse 6. children of Judah--the
most noble tribe, being that to which the "king's seed"
belonged (compare Da
1:3).
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Verse 7. gave names--designed
to mark their new relation, that so they might forget
their former religion and country (Ge
41:45). But as in Joseph's case (whom Pharaoh called
Zaphnath-paaneah), so in Daniel's, the name indicative
of his relation to a heathen court ("Belteshazzar," that
is, "Bel's prince"), however flattering to him, is not
the one retained by Scripture, but the name marking his
relation to God ("Daniel," God my Judge, the
theme of his prophecies being God's judgment on
the heathen world powers).
Hananiah--that is, "whom Jehovah hath favored."
Shadrach--from
Rak, in Babylonian, "the King," that is, "the
Sun"; the same root as in Abrech (Ge
41:43, Margin), "Inspired or illumined by the
Sun-god."
Mishael--that
is, "who is what God is?" Who is comparable to
God?
Meshach--The
Babylonians retained the first syllable of Mishael, the
Hebrew name; but for El, that is, GOD, substituted Shak, the
Babylonian goddess, called Sheshach (Jer
25:26; 51:41), answering to the Earth, or else
Venus, the goddess of love and mirth; it was during her
feast that Cyrus took Babylon.
Azariah--that is, "whom Jehovah helps."
Abed-nego--that is,
"servant of the shining fire." Thus, instead of to
Jehovah, these His servants were dedicated by the
heathen to their four leading gods [HERODOTUS, Clio]; Bel, the
Chief-god, the Sun-god, Earth-god, and Fire-god. To the
last the three youths were consigned when refusing to
worship the golden image (Da
3:12). The Chaldee version translates
"Lucifer," in Isa
14:12, Nogea, the same as Nego. The
names thus at the outset are significant of the seeming
triumph, but sure downfall, of the heathen powers before
Jehovah and His people.
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Verse 8. Daniel . . .
would not defile himself with . . . king's
meat--Daniel is specified as being the leader in the
"purpose" (the word implies a decided resolution)
to abstain from defilement, thus manifesting a character
already formed for prophetical functions. The other
three youths, no doubt, shared in his purpose. It was
the custom to throw a small part of the viands and wine
upon the earth, as an initiatory offering to the gods,
so as to consecrate to them the whole entertainment
(compare De
32:38). To have partaken of such a feast would have
been to sanction idolatry, and was forbidden even after
the legal distinction of clean and unclean meats was
done away (1Co
8:7, 10; 10:27, 28). Thus the faith of these youths
was made instrumental in overruling the evil foretold
against the Jews (Eze
4:13; Ho 9:3), to the glory of God. Daniel and his
three friends, says AUBERLEN, stand
out like an oasis in the desert. Like Moses, Daniel
"chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season"
(Heb
11:25; see Da
9:3-19). He who is to interpret divine revelations
must not feed on the dainties, nor drink from the
intoxicating cup, of this world. This made him as dear a
name to his countrymen as Noah and Job, who also stood
alone in their piety among a perverse generation (Eze
14:14; 28:3).
requested--While decided in principle, we ought
to seek our object by gentleness, rather than by an
ostentatious testimony, which, under the plea of
faithfulness, courts opposition.
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Verse 9. God . . .
brought Daniel into favour--The favor of others
towards the godly is the doing of God. So in Joseph's
case (Ge
39:21). Especially towards Israel (Ps
106:46; compare Pr
16:7).
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Verse 10. worse liking--looking
less healthy.
your
sort--of your age, or class;
literally, "circle."
endanger my head--An arbitrary Oriental despot
could, in a fit of wrath at his orders having been
disobeyed, command the offender to be instantly
decapitated.
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Verse 11. Melzar--rather, the
steward, or chief butler, entrusted by Ashpenaz with
furnishing the daily portion to the youths [GESENIUS]. The word is still in use in
Persia.
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Verse 12. pulse--The
Hebrew expresses any vegetable grown from
seeds, that is, vegetable food in general [GESENIUS].
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Verse 13-15. Illustrating De
8:3, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
Lord."
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Verse 17. God gave them
knowledge-- (Ex
31:2, 3; 1Ki 3:12; Job 32:8; Jas 1:5, 17).
Daniel had understanding in
. . . dreams--God thus made one of the
despised covenant-people eclipse the Chaldean sages in
the very science on which they most prided themselves.
So Joseph in the court of Pharaoh (Ge
40:5; 41:1-8). Daniel, in these praises of his own
"understanding," speaks not through vanity, but by the
direction of God, as one transported out of himself. See
my Introduction,
"CONTENTS OF THE BOOK."
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Verse 18. brought them in--that
is, not only Daniel and his three friends, but other
youths (Da
1:3, 19, "among them all").
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Verse 19. stood . . .
before the king--that is, were advanced to a
position of favor near the throne.
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Verse 20. ten times--literally,
"ten hands."
magicians--properly, "sacred scribes, skilled in
the sacred writings, a class of Egyptian priests"
[GESENIUS]; from a Hebrew
root, "a pen." The word in our English Version,
"magicians," comes from mag, that is, "a priest."
The Magi formed one of the six divisions of the Medes.
astrologers--Hebrew, "enchanters," from a
root, "to conceal," pactisers of the occult arts.
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Verse 21. Daniel continued
. . . unto . . . first year of
Cyrus-- (2Ch
36:22; Ezr 1:1). Not that he did not continue
beyond that year, but the expression is designed
to mark the fact that he who was one of the first
captives taken to Babylon, lived to see the end of the
captivity. See my Introduction,
"SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY."
In Da
10:1 he is mentioned as living "in the third year of
Cyrus." See Margin Note, on the use of "till" (Ps
110:1, 112:8).
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Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition
prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown
Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely used and
distributed.
Bibliography
Information
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.
"Commentary on Daniel 1". "Commentary Critical and
Explanatory
on the Whole Bible".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/jfb/view.cgi?book=da&chapter=001>.
1871.
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