He prophesied later than Haggai and Zechariah, as it appears from the position which this book holds in the canon, and also from the fact that the temple was finished when he wrote, as we see, i. 10, and iii. 1 : —

"O that some one would close the doors,

That ye might not kindle the fire upon mine altar in vain;
The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple."

The mention of the Jewish governor (i. 8) forbids us to place the time after the death of Nehemiah, as Rosenmüller observes. But Hitzig thinks this governor preceded or followed Nehemiah.

§ 252.

CONTENTS AND SPIRIT OF THE PROPHECY.

After the destruction of the theocracy, and the loss of true prophetic inspiration, Malachi, in his six prophetic discourses, undertakes to reprove the nation for transgressing the rules relating to public worship, and other precepts of the law; in particular, that which prohibited · marriage with foreign women. (i. 6—ii. 9, ii. 10—16, iii. 7-12.) The dissatisfaction which the people express with these restrictions, only leads him to make the comforting comparison of their condition with the harder lot of other nations, (i. 2-5,) and the promises of a Messiah. (ii. 17-iii. 9, iii. 13-24.) These are not devoid of the moral spirit of ancient prophecy, and are not destitute of peculiar and original ideas. (iii. 2, 23.)

In style, rhythm, and imagery, Malachi imitates the

zov, p. 463. Pseudo Epiphanius says he was of the tribe of Zebulon, and was highly honored by the people for his gentleness and sanctity. Hitzig refers to differences in these parallels, and observes that Malachi not only reproves the Jews for marrying heathen women, but for deserting their former wives.

old prophets, and not without success. Yet we are continually sensible of the dull, exhausted spirit, which attempts, but cannot perform, for the thought is not sufficiently vigorous."

CHAPTER V.

DANIEL.'

§ 253.

ACCOUNTS OF DANIEL.

DANIEL, a young Hebrew, of noble birth, according

See Eichhorn, § 609, sq., and Knobel, 1. c. p. 388. He repeatedly uses the same turn of words. (i. 2, 6, 7, ii. 14, 17, iii. 7, 8, 13.)

Ephraim, Expos. Proph. Daniel, Opp. ii. p. 203, sqq.

Hieron. Comment. in Dan., Opp. iii. p. 1071, sqq. Martianay.

Theo foreti Comment. in Visiones Danielis Prophetæ, Opp. ed. Schulz, ii. p. 1053, sqq.

Paraphrasis Dni Josephi Jachiada in Danielem c. Vers. et Annotatt. Const. L'Empereur ab Oppyk; Amst. 1633, 4to.

Ph. Melanchthonis Comm. in Danielem; 1543, 8vo.

Prælectt. Jo. Calvini in Libr. Prophetiarum Danielis, Jo. Budæi et Car. Jonuillai Lab. et Industr. exceptæ; 1571, fol.

Prælectt. acad. in Dan. Proph., habitæ antehac Lipsiæ a Mart. Geiero; Lips. 1767, ed. 2, corr. 1684, 4to.

Is. Newton, Observatt. upon the Prophecies of Dan. and the Apoc. of St. John; Lond. 1733, 4to. Latin, by W. Sudermann; Amst. 1737, 4to. Deutsch mit Anmerkk. von Chr. Fr. Grohmann; Lpz. 1765, 8vo.

Herm. Venema Dissertatt. ad Vaticc. Danielis, c. ii. vii. et viii.; Leov. 1745, 4to. Comment. ad Dan. xi. 4—xii. ; ib. 1752, 4to.

Chr. B. Michaelis, Annotatt. in Dan. in J. H. Michaelis, Uberr. Annotatt. in Hagiogr. vol. iii. p. 1, sqq.

Bertholdt, Dan. aus dem Hebräisch-Aramäischen neu übers, und erkl. mit e. vollst. Einleit. u. einigen hist. u. exeg. Excursen; Erl. 1806, 1808. Hivernik, Comment. üb. d. B. Daniel; Hamb. 1832.

Rosenmüller, Schol. See his Elenchus Interprett.

[Wintle, Daniel, Improved Version, with Notes; Lond. 1807, 4to. Amner,

to the narrative in this book," was brought to the court of Nebuchadnezzar, with other Jewish youths, in the third year of King Jehoiakim, (about 605,) and, under the name of Belteshazzar, was educated in the wisdom of the Chaldeans, for the service of the court."

Essay towards Interpret. Dan.; Lond. 1776, 1798, 8vo. Girdlestone, Observations on the Visions of Dan.; Oxf. 1820, 8vo. Wilson, Dissertations on the Proph. Dan.; Oundle, 1824, 8vo. Dissertations on Dan. by Blayney, Faber, Stonard, and Atwood. Folsom, Proph. of Dan.; Bost. 1842.]

a

According to i. 3, the captive youths were "of the king's seed, and the princes." Josephus (Ant. x. 10, 1) says he was of the race of Zedekiah, and pseudo Epiphanius (chap. x.) makes him descended from some of the chief officers in the kingdom — τῶν ἐξόχων τῆς βασιλικῆς ὑπηρετίας, — ἐγγενήθη ἐν Βεθεβορῷ τῇ ἀνωτέρα, πλησίον Ιερουσαλήμ.

It is obviously false that he was carried thither at that date, for, according to Jer. xxv. 1, and xlvi. 2, the fourth year of Jehoiakim is the first of Nebuchadnezzar; and according to xxv. 9, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, yea, according to xxxvi. 9, even in his fifth year, the Chaldeans had not yet come to Jerusalem. [Besides, in the third year of Jehoiakim, the Egyptians were the masters of Judea. If he had said in the third month of Jehoiachin, the date would have been more correct. (2 Ch. xxxvi. 9.)] Excepting the captivity under Zedekiah, none is known to history, save that under Jehoiachin, in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar. (2 Kings xxiv. 12, sqq. According to Jer. lii. 23, this was in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar.) The Chronicles alone (2 Ch. xxxvi. 6, 7) mention the captivity under Jehoiakim, [but make this take place after Jehoiakim had reigned eleven years.] Perhaps the author made use of this passage, and took the date, the third year of Jehoiakim, from 2 Kings xxiv. 1. Chr. B. Michaelis (Præf. in Dan. § 8) and Bertholdt (Daniel, p. 172) have attempted to explain the difficulty by showing that the third year of Jehoiakim may, by a different enumeration, be the eleventh year, when Josephus (Ant. x. 6, 3) says Jerusalem was taken and the people carried off. Hengstenberg (Beit. vol. i. p. 5) and Havernik (on Dan. chap. i.) have made artful and plausible combinations to show that the capture of Jerusalem, mentioned in Dan. i. 1, was accomplished in Nebuchadnezzar's expedition, undertaken during the last years of his father, and mentioned by Berosus, in Josephus, Ant. x. 11, 1, — the expedition in which Phoenicia and Syria were brought under the dominion of the Babylonians. They maintain that this expedition commenced in the third year of Jehoiakim; that after the battle of Carchemish, (which Jeremiah places in the fourth year, xlvi. 2,) and in the same year, Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, as Jeremiah had predicted. (xxv. 9.) Here they rely upon Jer. xxxvi. 9, and, following the analogy of Zech. viii. 9,

While Daniel is at the court, he commends himself to the king by a felicitous explanation of a dream, and is raised to the office of chief governor of the wise men of Babylon. (ii. 48.) He seems to have held this office to the end of the Chaldee monarchy. (v. 11.) After the conquest of Babylon, he is elevated by Darius the Mede Cyaxares II.—to one of the three highest offices of the state. (vi. 1.) This he held till the first time of Cyrus. (i. 21, vi. 29, x. 1.)

Ezekiel mentions Daniel as a model of righteousness and wisdom." But the Daniel of this book must, at that time, have been very young. Therefore it is not improbable that the author of this book has falsely transferred an old mythical or poetical character to the times and circumstances of this work, and, at the same time, has made use of the statements of Nehemiah (x. 3, 7, 24, and viii. 4) for the same purpose." The false

refer the fast, which is mentioned, to the invasion of the Chaldeans, which had taken place the previous year, and refer the threat denounced in verse 29 to a future and total annihilation of the state. The words, (Dan. i. 1,) “Nebuchadnezzar came unto Jerusalem,” (,) refer only to the undertaking of the expedition, as if it meant he drew towards Jerusalem. (Comp. Jon. i. 3.) They make the first year of Nebuchadnezzar fall part in the third and part in the fourth of Jehoiakim, and consequently there is, then, only an apparent, and not a real, contradiction between Dan. i. 1, and Jer. xxv. 1. But if we admit the accuracy of Berosus's statement, - which does not mention the battle of Carchemish, and which even Josephus (x. 6, 1) does not follow, then, if we rightly balance these passages of Jeremiah, and the circumstances, the warlike expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against Jehoiakim could not have taken place before the fifth year of the latter; and besides, no captivity is mentioned. Hitzig, Begriff der Kritik. p. 183, 185, Von Lengerke, Daniel, Einleit. to chap. i. Schmeidler, Unters. Jud.

sqq.

p. 84.

a 66

Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver only themselves by their righteousness." (xiv. 14, 18, 20.) "Thou art wiser than Daniel." (xxviii. 3.)

See Bleck, in the Berlin Theol. Zeitschrift, vol. iii. p. 283, sqq.

statement, in i. 1, renders the historical existence of Daniel exceedingly doubtful.

Afterwards, the fiction was continued still farther. The stories of Susannah, of Bel and the Dragon at Babylon, were added in the Septuagint, and later legends have been written respecting him."

§ 254.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

After an account of the circumstances of Daniel's life, written in Hebrew, (chap. i.,) there follows (chap. ii., which is in Chaldee from verse 4) the story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, of a figure composed of various materials, and of a stone which broke it in pieces. Daniel interpreted this dream, and, according to his explanation, four kingdoms were symbolically represented in it, the last of which was the Messianic kingdom. Chap. iii., written in Chaldee, relates the miracle of the three men in the fiery furnace. Chap. iii. 31-iv. 34, in Chaldee, purports to be a narrative by Nebuchadnezzar himself, in which he relates that, in accordance with Daniel's explanation of the dream, he fell into an insane and brutal state," and was delivered from it. Chap. v., in Chaldee, contains an account of a writing which appeared to Belshazzar at a feast on the night of the conquest of Babylon, and which was explained by Daniel as relating to that event. In chap. vi., also in Chaldee, under Darius the Mede, Daniel is cast into the lions' den, and is miraculously preserved

See them in Carpzov, 1. c. p. 231. Bertholdt, Dan. i. 9, sq.

• Wahnsinnigen viehischen Zustand.