took those whom he had rescued out of the hands of Ishmael, and the eunuchs, and their wives, and children, and came to a certain place called Mandra, and there they abode that day; for they had determined to remove from thence, and to go into Egypt; for fear lest the Babylonians should slay them, in case they continued in the country, and that out of anger, at the slaughter of Gedaliah, who had been set over it for governor. While they were under this deliberation, Johanan the son of Kareah, and the rulers that were with him, came to Jeremiah the prophet, and desired that he would pray to God, that because they were at an utter loss about what they ought to do, he would discover it to them; and they sware that they would do whatever Jeremiah should say to them. And the prophet said he would be their intercessor with God; it came to pass that after ten days God appeared to him, and said, he should inform Johanan, and the other rulers, and all the people, that he would be with them while they continued in that country, and take care of them, and keep them from being hurt by the Babylonians, of whom they were afraid; but that he would desert them if they went into Egypt; and out of his wrath against them, would inflict the same punishments upon them which they knew their brethren had already endured. So when the prophet had informed Johanan, and the people that God foretold these things, he was not believed, when he said that God commanded them to continue in that country: but they imagined that he said so to gratify Baruch, his own disciple, and belied God; that he persuaded them to stay there, that they might be destroyed by the Babylonians. * Jeremiah xliii. 6. + Herodotus says, this king of Egypt, (Pharaoh Hopra, or Apries,) was slain by the Egyptians; as Jeremiah foretold his slaughter by his enemies, xliv. 29, 30, and that as a sign of the destruction of Egypt, by Nebuchad nezzar Josephus says, this king was slain by Nebuchadnezzar himself. Which assertion is supposed by Dr. Hudson to contradict Herodotus. If it do, the question will remain, whether Herodotus or Josephus had the more authentic accounts of Egypt at that time. Nor is such a question easily decided, for want of some more authentic and original monuments of that country. Of this real captivity of the Jews in Egypt to Babylon, and particularly as to Jeremiah and Baruch, con. Accordingly both the Accordingly both the people, and Johanan, disobeyed the counsel of God, which he gave them by the prophet, and removed into Egypt and carried Jeremiah and Baruch along with them.* While they were there, God signified to the prophet, that the king of. Babylon was about making an expedition against the Egyptians; and commanded him to foretel to the people that Egypt should be taken, and that the king of Babylon should slay some of them, and should take others captive, and bring them to Babylon: which things came to pass accordingly. For on the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the twenty-third of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he made an expedition against Cole Syria; and when he had possessed himself of it, he made war against the Ammonites, and Moabites; and when he had brought all those nations under subjection, he fell upon Egypt, in order to overthrow it. And he slew the †king that then reigned, and set up another; and took those Jews that were there captives, and led them away to Babylon. § And such was the end of the nation of the Hebrews; it having twice gone beyond Euphrates. For the people of the ten tribes were carried out of Samaria by the Assyrians, in the days of king Hoshea. After which the people of the two tribes, that remained after Jerusalem was taken, were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and Chaldea. Now as to Shalmanezer, he removed the Israelites out of their country, and placed therein the nation of the Cutheans; who had formerly belonged to the interior of Persia. and Media; but were then called Samaritans, by taking the name of the country to which trary to our common copies, Jer. xliv. 12, 13, 27, see Authent. Rec. Part 1.-pages 6, 7. § Since the people were thus carried into captivity, the sons of the royal family, and of the nobility of the land, made eunuchs and slaves in the palace of the king of Babylon; the vessels of the temple carried thither, the king made a tributary, and the whole land now brought into vassalage under the Babylonians; from hence we must reckon the beginning of the seventy years' captivity foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, ch. xxv. 11. and xxix. 10. and in the fourth year of Jehoiakin must be the first year in that computation. Prideaux's Connection anno 606. B. they were removed. But the king of BabyBut the king of Babylon, who brought out the two tribes,* placed no other nation in their country. By which means all Judea, and Jerusalem, and the temple, continued to be a desert for seventy years. But the entire interval of passed from the captivity of the Israelites, to the carrying away of the two tribes, proved to be a hundred and thirty years, six months, and ten days. CHAP. X. them their diet from his own table: and had them instructed in the institutes of the country, and taught the learning of the Chaldeans: and they exercised themselves in that wisdom which he had ordered they should apply themme which selves to. Now among these were four of the family of Zedekiah, of most excellent dispositions; the one of whom was called Daniel; another was called Ananias; another Misael, and the fourth Azarias. And the king of Babylon changed their names, and commanded that they should make use of other names. Daniel he called Baltasar ; Ananias, Shadrach; Misael, Meshach; and Azarias, Abednego. These the king had in esteem, and continued to love; on account of their excellent temper, their application to learning, and the progress they had inade in wisdom. CONCERNING DANIEL, AND WHAT BEFEL HIM AT BABYLON. N TEBUCHADNEZZAR king of Babylon took some of the most noble of the Jews that were children, and the kinsmen of Zedekiah their king; such as were remarkable for the beauty of their bodies, and the comeliness of their countenances; and delivered them into the hands of tutors, and to the improvement to be made by them. He also made some of them to be eunuchs: which course he took also with other nations whom he had taken in the flower of their age, † and afforded * We see here that Judea was left in a manner desolate, after the captivity of the two tribes, and was not re-peopled with foreign colonies; perhaps as an indication of Providence that the Jews were to re-people it without opposition themselves. I esteem the latter and present desolate condition of the same country without being re-peopled by foreign colonies, to be a like indication, that the same Jews are hereafter to re-people it again at their long-expected restoration. f That Daniel was made one of those eunuchs of whom Isaiah prophecied xxxix. 7, and the three children his companions also, seems to me plain, both here and in our copies of Daniel i. 3, 6, 7-11, 18. Although it must be granted, that some married persons, that had children, were sometimes called eunuchs, in a general acceptation for courtiers, on account that so many of the ancient courtiers were real eunuchs. See Gen. xxxix. 1, with Antiq. 6. X. 8, 9, and 10. It was an usual thing for conquerors to change the names of the persons they vanquished in war, in testimony of their absolute power over them. Thus we find the king of Babylon changing the name of Mattaniah into Zedekiah, when he constituted him king of Judah, 2 Kings xxiv. 17. But our learned Usher has farther remarked that the king of Egypt gave Eliakim the name of Jehoiakim, thereby to testify, that he ascribed his victory over the Babylonians to Jehovah, the God of Israel, by whose excitation, as he pretended, 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, 22, he undertook the expedition. Patrick's and Calmet's Com. B. Now Daniel and his kinsmen had resolved to use a severe diet, and to abstain from those kinds of food which came from the king's ta ble; and entirely to forbear to eat of all living creatures. So he came to Ashpenaz who was that eunuch, to whom the care of them was committed, I and desired him to take and spend what was brought for them from the It is very remarkable, that, as all their former names related to the true God, so all the names which on this occasion were imposed upon these four Jewish youths had some reference or other to Babylonish idols. Daniel in Hebrew, signifies God is my judge; Belteshazzar, in Chaldee is the treasure of Baal; Hananiah, in Hebrew, is well pleasing to God; Shadrach, in Chaldee, the inspiration of the sun; Mishael, in Hebrew, proceeding from God; Meshach, in Chaldee, belonging to the goddess Sheshach; Azariah, in Hebrew, God is my help: and Abednego, in Chaldee, the servant of Nego, i. e. the sun or the morning-star, both deities among the Babylonians, and so called because of their brightness, Calmet's Com. on Dan. i. 7. B. What we render master of the eunuchs, may very likely signify the chief minister of Nebuchadnezzar's court. Such officers, in the palaces of eastern princes, were usually called eunuchs; because they who had the controul of the king's household, as we say, were ordi narily such, though many times it might be otherwise. The Jews have a notion, that Daniel and his three companions were, by the order of Nebuchadnezzar, made eunuchs, that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled:Thy sons, that shall issue from thee, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon, chap. xxxix. 7. But that is no conclusive reason; because, in that prophecy, as well as in the passage we are now upon, the name of eunuch might mean no more than any person who had an employment at court. Calmet's Com. B. eans: tation of dreams. And God manifested himself to him. king, but to give them pulse and dates for their food, and any thing else, besides the flesh of living creatures, that he pleased; for Two years after the destruction of Egypt, that their inclinations were to that sort of food king Nebuchadnezzar saw a wonderful dream; and that they disliked the other. He replied, the accomplishment of which God shewed that he was ready to serve them in what they him in his sleep. But when he arose out of desired but he suspected that they would be his bed he forgot the accomplishment. So discovered by the king, from their meagre he sent for the Chaldeans, magicians, and bodies, and the alteration of their counte- prophets, and told them he had seen a dream; mances; because it could not be avoided but and informed them that he had forgotten the their bodies and complexions must be changed accomplishment of what he had seen; and he with their diet; especially while they would enjoined them to tell him, both what the dream be clearly discovered by the finer appearance was, and what was its signification. They of the other children, who would fare better: replied, that this was a thing impossible to and thus they should bring him into danger, be discovered by men; but they promised and occasion him to be punished. However, that if he would explain to them what dream they persuaded Arioch to give them what he had seen, they would tell him its signifithey desired for ten days, by way of trial: cation. Hereupon he threatened to put them and, in case their habits of bodies were not to death unless they told him bis dream, and altered, to go on in the same way; as expect- he gave command accordingly, since they ing that they should not be hurt thereby after confessed they could not do what they were wards: but that if he saw them look worse commanded. Now when Daniel heard that than the rest, he should reduce them to their the king had given a command, that all the former diet. Now it appeared that they were wise men should be put to death; and that so far from becoming worse, by the use of among them himself and his three kinsmen this food, that they grew plumper, and fuller were in danger; he went to Arioch, who was in body than the rest; insomuch that he thought captain of the king's guards, and desired to those who fed upon what came from the king's know the reason why the king had given comtable seemed less plump and full while those mand that all the wise men, Chaldeans, and that were with Daniel looked as if they had magicians, should be slain? So when he had lived in plenty, and in all sorts of luxury.* learned that the king had had a dream, Arioch, therefore, from that time, securely and had forgotten it; and that when they took himself what the king sent every day were enjoined to inform the king of it, they from his supper, according to custom, to the had said they could not do it, and had therechildren but gave them the aforementioned by provoked him to anger; he desired of diet; while they had their souls in some mea- Arioch, that he would go in to the king, and sure more pure, and less burdened, and so desire respite for the magicians for one night; fitter for learning; and had their bodies better and to put off their slaughter so long; for adanten for labor. For they neither had the that he hoped in that time, to obtain by former oppressed and heavy with variety of meats; nor were the other effeminate on the same account. So they readily understood all the learning that was among the Hebrews, and among the Chaldeans. As especially did Daniel, who being already sufficiently skilful in wisdom, was very busy about the interpre * Daniel i. 15. + Some are of opinion, that Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the interpretation thereof, were both revealed to Daniel, while he was asleep; but others rather think, that it was in a vision, while he was awake, because the prayer to God the knowledge of the dream. prayer and thanksgiving which he made to God seem to insinuate, that he was awake; though we cannot see, why he might not receive the revelation in his sleep, and return God thanks for it as soon as he awoke, Calmet's Com. B. whole night to discover the dream, and there- discover his dream, he was undertaking to inby deliver the magicians and Chaldeans, with form him of it. form him of it. For this was not by his own whom they were themselves to perish, from skill, or on account of his having better culti the king's anger, by enabling him to declare vated his understanding than the rest: " But," his vision, and to make manifest what the said he, "God hath had pity upon us, when king had seen the night before in his sleep, we were in danger of death: and when I but had forgotten it. Accordingly God, out prayed for the life of myself, and of those of of pity to those that were in danger, and out my own nation, he hath manifested to me both of regard to the wisdom of Daniel, made the dream and the interpretation thereof. For known to him the dream and its interpretation, I was not less concerned for thy glory, than so that the king might understand by him its for the sorrow that we were by thee condemnsignification also. When Daniel had obtained to die; while thou didst so unjustly com ed this knowledge from God, he arose joy-mand men both good and excellent in themfully, and told it his brethren ; and made them selves to be put to death, when thou enjoined to hope that they should now preserve their them to do what was entirely above the reach lives, of which they despaired before, and of wisdom; and required of them what was had their minds full of nothing but the thoughts only the work of God. Wherefore as thon in of dying. So when he had with them return- thy sleep wast solicitous concerning those that ed thanks to God, who had commiserated should succeed thee in the government of the their youth; he came to Arioch, and desired || whole world, God was desirous to shew thee him to bring him to the king, because he all those that should reign after thee; and to would discover to him that dream which he that end exhibited to thee the following dream: had seen the night before. -Thou seemedst to see a great image standing before thee: the head of which was of gold, the shoulders and arms of silver, the belly and the thighs of brass; but the legs and the feet of iron. + Thou then sawest a stone bro When Daniel was come in to the king, he excused himself first, that he did not pretend to be wiser than the other Chaldeans and magicians, when, upon their entire inability to * *The prophet Daniel makes mention of these sort of people, and ranks them under these four different kinds. The Chartumim, the Asaphim, the Mecasphim, and the Chasdim, ch. ii. 2. Chartumim, according to the Septuagiut, signifies sophists; but according to St. Jerom, diviners, fortune-tellers, casters of nativity, &c. Asaphim has no derivation from the Chaldee tongue, but no small resemblance to the Greek word sophos, (whether the Greeks took this word from the Babylonians, or the Babylonians from them;) and therefore the Septuagint have rendered it by philosophers. Necasphim is thought by some to be necromancers, such as pretend to raise the dead, to gain intelligence of things future; but the Septuagint have rendered it by a word that denotes such enchanters as made use of noxious herbs and drugs, the blood of victims, and the bones of the dead, for their superstitious operations. The other word Chasdim is the same with Chaldeans, and here signifies a sort of philosophers among the Babylonians, who dwelt in a separate part of the city, and were exempt from all employments. Their study was natural philosophy, astrology, divination, or the foretelling of future events by the observation of the stars, the interpretation of dreams, the science of auguries, the worship of their gods, &c. as Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1. gives us an account of them. Calmet's Dict. under the word Magicians. B. By these different emblems of metals and stone, God intended to signify to Nebuchadnezzar the several empires that were to be in the world. The Assyrian or Chal dean is represented by gold, because it was the first and the most magnificent, if not the most extensive, and Nebuchadnezzar, being then upon the throne, is said to be head of it. That of silver is the Persian, founded by Cyrus, upon the ruins of the Chaldean, but inferior to the Chaldean in its duration at least, if not in its exten'. That of brass is the Grecian, founded by Alexander, upon the ruins of the Persian, and its character is, that it should bear rule over all the earth, Dan. ii. 39. which was veri fied in its great founder: for upon his return from India to Babylon, the ambassadors of almost all the known parts of the world resorted thither, to pay their homage and acknowledgment of his dominion. That of iron is the Roman empire, which is extinguished by its breaking in pieces, and subduing all things. ver. 40. For whilst it was in its full strength and vigor, under its consuls and first emperors it brought under its dominion all the kingdoms and stores that were then subsisting in Europe, Africa, and a great part of Asia; but, from that time, it became a mixture of iron and clay. Its emperors proved most of them vicious and corrupt, either by their tyranny making themselves hateful to their subjects, or, by their follies and vices, contemptible. Lastly, that of the stone out of the mountain, is the fifth monarchy, or the kingdom of the Messias; which against all the power and policy of the Roman empire, prevailed, not by an external force, but by the powerful preaching of the gos pel, to the suppression and defeat of wickedness and im piety, idolatry, and superstition, and it shall stand for ken or things present; but not the things that are' future. Yet if any one be so desirous of knowing truth, as not to wave such points of curiosity, and cannot curb his inclination for understanding the uncertainties of futurity, and whether they will happen or not, let him diligently read the book of Daniel, which he' will find among the sacred writings. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, and recollected his dream, he was astonished at the nature of Daniel:† and fell upon his face, and saluted Daniel in the manner that men worship God; and gave command that he should be sacrificed to as a god. He also imposed the name of his own god Baltasar upon him, and made him and his kinsmen, ken off from a mountain, which fell upon the image, and threw it down and brake it to pieces, and did not permit any part of it to remain whole; but the gold, the silver, the iron, and the brass, became smaller than meal: which, upon the blast of a violent wind, was forcibly carried away, and scattered abroad; but the stone increased to such a degree, that the whole earth beneath it seemed to be filled therewith. This is the dream which thou sawest, and its interpretation is as follows:The head of gold denotes thee, and the kings of Babylon that have been before thee. But the two hands and arms signify that thy government shall be dissolved by two kings. But another king that shall come from the west, armed with brass, shall destroy that go-rulers of the whole kingdom. These kinsmen, vernment. And another government that shall be like unto iron, shall put an end to the power of the former, and shall have dominion over all the earth; on account of the nature of iron which is stronger than that of gold, of silver, and brass.' Daniel also declared the meaning of the stone to the king; but I do not think it proper to relate it: since I have only undertaken to describe things past, . ever, and never be destroyed, Dan. ii, 44, which can be said of no other kingdom but that of Jesus Christ, which, for these seventeen hundred years and upwards, has withstood the violence of persecutions, and all other contrivances formed against it, and has the sure promises of its Almighty founder on its side, that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, Matthew xvi. 18. Calmets Commentary. B. * This is a most remarkable passage in Josephus, concerning the stone cut out of the mountain, and destroying the image, which he intimated to be a prophecy of futurity; and probably not safe for him to explain, as belonging to the destruction of the Roman empire, by Jesus Christ, the true Messiah of the Jews. Take here also the words of Havercamp. "The place referred to by Josephus," says he, "is chap. 10. Nor is this to be wondered at, that he would not meddle with things future. For he had no mind to provoke the Romans, by speaking of the destruction of the city, which they called the eternal city. " Note v. on X. 11. † Nebuchadnezzar seems, in a sudden transport, to have looked upon Daniel as having something more than human in him, just as the barbarians thought of St. Paul, Acts xxviii. 6, and therefore it is said, that he fell on his face and worshipped him; because the doing of reverence, by way of prostration, is not only an act of worship paid to God, but frequently given to kings and great men in the Old Testament, according to the custom of eastern Countries, 2 Sam. ix. 6. and sometimes even to prophets, on account of the sanctity of their office, 1 Kings xviii. 7. VOL I. (33.) however, happened to fall into danger by the envy and malice of their enemies: for they offended the king upon the following occa sion. The king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits; and set it in the great plain of Babylon; and when he was going to dedicate the image, he invited all the principal men that were under his dominion, and command nor was it usually refused by them, except such circumstances were added to it, as made it look like divine worship, and then it was always rejected, as in the case of St. Peter, Acts x. 26. Lowth's Commentary on Daniel ii. 43. B. Grotius is of opinion that the image which Nebuchadnezzar set up was the figure of his father Nebopollassar, whom, by this means, he intended to deify; but others think, that it was his own statue which he erected, to gain the adorations of his people in this form. We cannot, however, in what we find Nebuchadnezzar saying to Daniel's friends, perceive that he any where upbraids them with contempt offered to his person, or his statue, but only that they would not serve his gods, nor worship the image which he had set up, Dan. iii. 14. And therefore others have imagined, that this was neither his own nor his father's statue, but that of Jupiter, which was afterward found in the temple of Belus, when Xerxes plundered of its immense riches, among which were several images of massy gold, but one more especially fifty feet high, which might be the same that Nebuchadnezzar consecrated in the plains of Dura. For though that is said to have been sixty cubits, i. e. ninety feet high, yet we may suppose, that it stood upon a pedestal of forty feet high, and so the image, and the pedestal together, might make ninety, (vid. vol. i. page 310, in the notes,) otherwise there would be no proportion between its height and its breadth, according to the description we have of it in Dan. iii. 1. Prideaux's Connec. anno 573. B. |