_JEHOIAKIM'S CAPTIVITY. ASHPENAZ TAKETH DANIEL, HANANIAH, MISHAEL, AND AZARIAH: THEY REFUSING THE KING'S PORTION, DO PROSPER WITH PULSE AND WATER: THEIR EXCELLENCY IN WISDOM._ _Before Christ 606._ THIS chapter relates the history of Daniel during the early part of his captivity, and especially th... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE THIRD YEAR— It was in the eighth year of Jehoiakim that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against him, _and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon:_ 2 Chronicles 36:6. But promising fidelity, the king of Babylon restored him to his kingdom, and _Jehoiakim became his servant three year... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH PART OF THE VESSELS— _And part of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them,_ &c. _Shinar_ was the original name of the country of Babylon.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MASTER—THE KING'S SEED— _The prince—the royal seed:_ the Hebrew word for princes פרתמים _partemim._ Aquila and the LXX, as cited in Montfaucon's Hexapla, render it επιλεκτων, _choice persons,_ and another Greek version ευγενων, _noble, well-born;_ it seems a compound of the Persic פר _per,_ from... [ Continue Reading ]
SO NOURISHING THEM THREE YEARS— _That after they had been educated for three years, at the end,_ &c. Houbigant; or, _And that they should be thus bred up three years, and at the end thereof they should stand,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO WHOM, &C.— This change of names was a mark of dominion and authority: masters imposed new names upon their slaves. _Daniel_ signifies, _God is my judge,_ or _the judgment of God; Belteshazzar—the treasurer of Baal,_ or, "The depositary of the secrets, or treasure of Baal." _Hananiah_ signifies,... [ Continue Reading ]
DANIEL PURPOSED IN HIS HEART— Daniel had two reasons for refusing the meat from the king's table: first, because the heathens ate indiscriminately all sorts of food, and consequently such as was forbidden by the law of Moses: the _second,_ because it was the custom of most nations before their meals... [ Continue Reading ]
TENDER LOVE— רחמים _rachamim,_ Bowels of compassion. It has a like sense also at ch. Daniel 2:18. The word is of very strong import, and denotes a kind of parental compassion. St. Paul has an expression somewhat like it, if not stronger, in his epistle to Philemon, Daniel 1:12. "Receive him, that is... [ Continue Reading ]
PULSE— _Pulse_ here signifies all sorts of _roots_ or _herbs._... [ Continue Reading ]
DREAMS— Namely, those sent from God to portend future events; which were easily distinguished from fortuitous dreams; if, for instance, they had nothing in them preposterous, nothing irregular, nothing monstrous; and if the whole order and consequences of things were regularly preserved in them, fro... [ Continue Reading ]
MAGICIANS AND ASTROLOGERS— These names may perhaps be taken in a good sense, as the _wise men_ in St. Matthew; and the _astrologers_ perhaps were then in general the same as _astronomers_ with us. However, it cannot be collected from these words, that Daniel applied himself to the study of magic art... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DANIEL CONTINUED— He was known, employed, and continued under Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, till the monarchy passed from the Chaldeans to the Persians, in the person of Cyrus; under which prince also he maintained his authority. REFLECTIONS.—1st, God had threatened Hezekiah, to punish him... [ Continue Reading ]