Daniel 2:46

fell upon his face a mark of respect whether to God, as Genesis 17:3, or to men, 2 Samuel 9:6; 2 Samuel 14:4.

and worshipped Daniel bowed down to Daniel, the word used in Daniel 3:5-7 &c. of adoration paid to a deity. In the Targums, however, the same word is used (for the Heb. to prostrate oneself to) of obeisance done to a human superior (as 2 Samuel 14:33; 2Sa 18:21; 2 Samuel 18:28; 2 Samuel 24:20); so that it does not necessarily imply the payment of divine honour.

thatthey should offer lit. pour out, the word used of pouring out a libation or drink-offering (2 Kings 16:13, and elsewhere), though here employed evidently in a more general sense.

an oblation The word means properly a present, especially one offered as a mark of homage or respect (Genesis 32:13; Genesis 43:11); it is also used generally in the sense of an oblationpresented to God (Genesis 4:3-5; 1 Samuel 2:17), as well as technically, in the priestly terminology, of the -meal-offering" (Leviticus 3 &c.). The second of these three senses is the most probable here.

sweet odours lit. restsor contentments. The word is that which occurs in the sacrificial expression - sweetsavour" (Genesis 8:21; Leviticus 1:2, &c.), lit. -savour of restor contentment": it is used (exceptionally) without -savour," exactly as here, in Ezra 6:10, -that they may offer rests(or contentments) to the God of heaven." -Bowed down to" is ambiguous; but the subsequent parts of the verse certainly represent Daniel as receiving the homage due to a god. Daniel does not refuse the homage (contrast Acts 14:13-18): in the view of the writer, he is (cf. Daniel 2:47) the representative of the God of gods to Nebuchadnezzar. Compare the story in Jos. Ant.xi. viii. 5, according to which Alexander the Great prostrated himself before the Jewish high-priest, and when asked by his astonished general, Parmenio, why he did so, replied, "I do not worship the high-priest, but the God with whose high-priesthood he has been honoured."