more comely and more plump in flesh than any of the young men's that did eat the portion of the king's 16 meat. Thus Meltzar continued to take away their portion of meat, and the wine that they should drink, and to give them pulse.

17

As to these four young men, God gave them prudence and skill in all learning and wisdom, and made Daniel to have understanding in all visions and 18 dreams. And at the end of the days which the king had appointed to bring them in, the prince of the chamberlains brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 When the king conversed with them, and there was none found among them all like Daniel, Hananiah,

consider it as of a plural form; probably on account of the adjective

ילדים which must either agree with ;טוב that follows after בריאי

"the young men," or else furnish another instance to confirm the preceding observation of the inaccuracy of the Hebrew language, in distinction of numbers, &c. The good effects of temperance and abstinence are here observable, but they are natural and usual, and the result of the ordinary blessings of God's providence.

16.

-Melt.zar.-Greek.

Apeload, qui est a latere,

an assistant. But Syr. and Ar. have , a guardian, or inspector of young men. Yet Michaelis thinks there is no good authority for the change of the to. It means probably an assistant or deputy to Ashpenaz, of this name.

17. As to these four young men.-The Hebrew is pleonastic; see the like at Chap. iii. 28, &c. and at Chap. iv. 26. and often in the Chaldee. Literally it is, to these young men, any "to each of them four;" who were all persons of sagacity and knowledge, and skilled in the literature of the Chaldees, at least in the innocent parts of it; but Daniel excelled the others in the gift of prophecy, and in his extraordinary skill in interpreting all sort of visions and dreams. See 1 Cor. xii. 10. Houbigant suggests, we must understand, not fortuitous or casual dreams, but such as were sent from Heaven.

19. -none found among them all.-One MS. has not the word ; but the versions retain it, and it plainly relates to the whole of the young men, alluded to at verse 4; whom these four far excelled, when they were introduced to stand before, or minister to, the King.

Mishael, and Hazariah; thus they stood before the 20 king. Also in every matter of the deepest wisdom which the king inquired of them, he even found them ten times superior to all the soothsayers and magicians 21 that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even to the first year of the king Cyrus.

20.

-ālso in every matter of the deepest wisdom.-Heb. of the wisdom of understanding; but Gr. Ar. and Vul. translate as if they had found a Vau before '2, and so our English translation.

-ten times superior to all the soothsayers and magicians.-Heb. ten hands above-εñaοidovs kaι μayovs, Th. Hariolos et magos, Vul. Incantatores et Hariolos, Syr. Ten MSS. read, with the versions, ▾ before, though there is none in the printed text. The word 'n seems derived from a style or writing instrument, used by the ancients on their waxen tablets; or it may signify any sort of pencil or tool, by which letters were marked; and hence the word is applied to those soothsayers who marked the nativities of persons, and excelled in the knowledge of astrology, natural history, the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the like. See Exod. vii. 11*. As to the other word, "Potest ab es deduci σopos. Et potest deduci vel a crepusculum, vid. Buxt. vel a eminuit, undeclivus: Nam astronomis conveniunt editiores loci." Secker. The reputation of Thales and other Sophi seems to have been great before the times of the Babylonish captivity; and Thales, who was of Ionia, living not far from Syria, might thence acquire the name, which is still retained by the Emperors of Persia. Both words may seem to comprehend those persons in general that were distinguished in the several kinds of learning cultivated among the Chaldees. Of the like character were the Magi in Egypt and Persia, and the other countries of the East, and those wise men that came to our Saviour at his birth. Matt. ii. 1.

21. And Daniel continued.-Heb. was. He lived in a flourishing state in Babylon, till the time of the dissolution of that empire by Cyrus, when the prophecies of Isaiah xliv. 28. and xlv. 1. were fulfilled; till the expiration of the Jewish captivity, which happened in

* Michaelis after Mill considers them as the iepoypauμaтels of the Egyptians, or person employed in explaining their Hieroglyphics; and he thinks the Persian Magi night also be called by this name. See Suppl. p. 922.

CHAPTER II.

1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuch.d

ער

66

the first year of Cyrus, when Jeremiah's prophecy relating to the term of 70 years was fulfilled also. He was alive afterwards, as it appears, ch. x. 1. in the 3rd year of Cyrus: nor should the particle until," ," induce us to think otherwise; see Ps. cx. 1. and cxii. 8. and Nold. p. 534. Perhaps the before the last word of the verse has a sort of emphasis to the honour and distinction of Cyrus. LXX R. has, "King of the Persians." Michaelis supposes a word wanting at the end, which he conjectures may be, in Babylon. But M. de Gebelin, a French critic, supposes the word Cyrus does not belong to the text; and that Daniel only meant to observe, that he was at Babylon in the first year of the reign of the King, i. e. Nebuchadnezzar. See Encylopedie, Theologie, Livr. xxvii. sur Daniel. This last conjecture is ingenious, and perhaps may receive some strength from the verse that follows at the beginning of the next chapter.—“And in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed, &c." But there is no authority for dropping the word Cyrus.

In this chapter Nebuchadnezzar having dreamed, and been much affected thereby, is solicitous to know his dreams, and the meaning of them. He applies in vain to the wise men of his own country for information, and being disgusted at their inability, orders them all to be slain. Daniel is sought after among the number, but on application to God he learns the dream and the interpretation, and arrests the execution of the sentence. He explains the dream to the King, probably as relating to the four great kingdoms of the earth, and the establishment of the kingdom of the Messiah under the fourth: Whereupon the King admires his skill, acknowledges the power of his God, and advances Daniel and his friends to great honours and prefer

ments.

1. Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar.-For an account of

this second year see the note on Chap. i. 1. But Mr. Jackson, and some other writers, place this dream later in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, supposing that Daniel was not carried into captivity till the reign of Jehoiakim, and that Nebuchadnezzar was not a complete sovereign till after the first destruction of Jerusalem; yet the plain and obvious sense of the text both here and in the first Chapter militates against this opinion, nor do I see how it can be reconciled with the Canon.

As the affairs of Babylon have so considerable a share in the historical parts of the Book of Daniel, as well as in other parts of Scripture, it may not be amiss to give here a short sketch of the kingdom of Babylon, previous to the reign of this monarch.

Whether the Assyran empire was of very early date according to some of the Greek writers and chronicles, or whether its commencement was not till a much later period according to modern chronologists, it is agreed on all sides, that the origin of this and of the Babylonian monarchy must be traced from nearly the same source. And accordingly we read in the 10th chapter of Genesis, ver. 10, 11, that Nimrod the son of Cush and grandson of Ham, who seems to have been the first founder of extensive or regal authority, had the beginning of his kingdom in Babel or Babylon in the land of Shinar, as this country was still called in the time of Daniel. Chap. i. 2. Out of this land he went forth into Assyria, or it may be, as most of the versions read, Ashur or an Assyrian went forth, (that is, not one of the sons of Shem, but a person either of that name, or that took his name from the country) and built Nineveh and other cities. The descendants of these people seem for a considerable time to have followed the way of life of their founder, to have lived upon plunder and rapine in a rude uncivilized state, and not to have been much esteemed among the nations; till some potent king of Assyria perhaps collected them together, and settled them in Babylon and the country round about it. Bishop Lowth supposes this King to have been Ninus, and to have lived in the time of the Judges, following the testimony of Herodotus, who is understood to say, that the Assyrian monarchy lasted but 520 years: see his note on Isaiah, xxiii. p. 132. The words of Herodotus in his Clio, p. 40. Ed. Gron. are these, Aσovpiwv αρχοντων της ανω Ασιης επ' ετεα εικοσι και πεντακοσια, πρωτοι απ' αυτων Mηdoι пpέavтo añσтаσαι, which may be rendered, "When the Assyrians had possessed the supreme command over Upper Asia 520 years, the Medes first began to revolt from them;" Or perhaps, "the Medes were the first that began to revolt from the Assyrians, who enjoyed

the supreme power over Upper Asia 520 years." If we follow the latter sense, the continuance of this monarchy here meant may be carried on, if not to the final overthrow of the united Empire, at the death of Belshazzar, at least down to the destruction of Nineveh ; and then Ninus must have lived in, or a little before, the time of David; or else, as is most probable, the language of Herodotus must terminate with the revolt of the Medes; and Ninus must have possessed himself of Babylon, which he enlarged and beautified, somewhat more than 500 years before the commencement of the Chaldean æra, in the year 747 before Christ.

The history of Assyria and Babylon from Ninus * to this last named period, is involved in much uncertainty, as we have scarce any authentic evidence to have recourse to, the testimony of the Greek writers wearing for the most part the appearance of fable, and the Scriptures throwing very little light on the matter. We find indeed mention therein of Pul, a king of Assyria, (2 Kings, xv. 19.) who was bribed by Menahem to depart from Israel; whom the compilers of the Universal History, after Sir Isaac Newton, suppose to be the same as Belus, the founder of both the Assyrian and Babylonian monarchies; but their arguments, although plausible, seem not sufficiently convincing to overthrow the faith of Herodotus, however they may serve to invalidate the testimony of the long and numerous race of Kings according to Ctesias and the other writers that have followed him.

The next Assyrian King of the Scriptures is Tiglath-pileser, supposed to have been the son of Pul; and after him follow Shalmanezer and Senacherib: During the reign of one of which monarchs, perhaps the former, the kingdom of Babylon and Chaldea, seems to have revolted, and it is probable from Herodotus, not long after the time that the Medes did, from the Assyrian empire. The first Prince after this revolt, at least the first that we have any certain knowledge of, seems to have been Nabonassar, the founder of the famous æra, that

* Mr. Bruce, in his Travels. B. ii. c. 1. speaks of Semiramis, and the immense riches of the Assyrian empire, which Montesquieu thinks proceeded chiefly from rapine and plunder of other nations in war; but which Mr. Bruce more justly imputes to her connexions with India; and that as the commerce with that peninsula was unknown by sea, the whole must have been carried on by land only, and all nations of the continent must have received from her markets a supply of Indian stores. See Prelim. Dis. Upon this principle he accounts also for a passage in Solomon's Proverbs, c. vii. 16. where he says, that he decked his bed with coverings of tapestry of Egypt. Now Egypt had neither silk nor cotton manufactory, nor even wool. Solomon's coverings, therefore, though he had them from Egypt, were an article of barter with India.