صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

three 'revised versions' of the O.T. has, however, been preserved in its integrity: in most cases, they have been transmitted only in the form of glosses on the text of the LXX., which was placed by Origen (3rd cent. A.D.) in the fifth column of his 'Hexapla1,' and transcribed thence into other MSS. But in the case of Daniel, the version of Theodotion displaced the true Septuagintal version in MSS. of the LXX.; and the latter version remained actually unknown to scholars till the middle of the last century, when a MS. containing it, was published at Rome in 17722. This MS. belongs to the Library of the Chigi family, and is known as the Codex Chisianus. It contains Jer., Baruch, Lam., Ep. of Jeremiah, Daniel according to the LXX., Hippolytus on Daniel, Daniel according to Theodotion, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. It has been supposed to date from the ninth century, though it is very possibly later. In Tischendorf's edition of the LXX., the version of Daniel contained in the body of the work (ii. 480 ff.) is, in accordance with what has been just stated, that of Theodotion: the genuine 'Septuagint' version, as found in the Chisian MS., is given at the end of the volume (p. 589 f£). In Dr Swete's edition of the LXX., to the great convenience of the reader, the two versions are printed side by side on opposite pages (vol. iii. p. 498 ff.).

The recension of the LXX. exhibited by the Chisian MS.,

LXX., but agreeing largely with those of Theod., occur in the N.T. (see esp. I Cor. xv. 54; John xix. 37, cf. Rev. i. 7), and writers of the early part of the second cent. A.D.; hence it has been conjectured that there was a 'Theodotion' before Theodotion, or in other words, that a revision of the LXX. had been begun before Theodotion, though Theodotion was the first to carry it through systematically (cf. Salmon, Introd. to the N.T.3, p. 586 ff.; Schürer3, iii. 323 f.)..

1 The five remaining columns contained, respectively, the Hebrew, the Hebrew in Greek characters, and the versions of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus.

2 Cf. Dr Field's Hexapla, II. 904 ff. There are also other, more recent editions, the best being that of Cozza in his Sacrorum Bibliorum vetustissima fragmenta, vol. iii. (1877). It is true, in the colophon at the end of Dan. xii., the text of this MS. is said to have been taken from a copy based on the Tetrapla of Origen; but the Tetrapla was simply a subsequent edition of the Hexapla, with the first two columns omitted.

being based upon the text adopted by Origen for his Hexapla, is known as the 'Hexaplar' text; and it contains (though with many misplacements and omissions) the obelisks and asterisks by which this learned Father indicated, respectively, the passages which had nothing corresponding to them in the current Hebrew text, and those which, having something corresponding to them in the Hebrew, but being not represented in the genuine LXX., were supplied by him from some other version (usually that of Theod.). Of the 'Hexaplar' text of the LXX., now, a very literal Syriac translation was made at Alexandria in 616-7 by Paul, Bishop of Tella (in Mesopotamia); and a great part of this Syriac version of the LXX. has been preserved in a MS., now in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, which was edited in facsimile by Ceriani in 18741. The text which formed the basis of this 'Syro-hexaplar' version of the LXX. (as it is commonly called) was in a purer state than that found in the Chisian MS.: it exhibits more completely the obelisks and asterisks, and it is not disfigured by the omissions, additions, and other clerical errors, which are manifest blots in the Chisian text. It is thus of importance for assisting scholars to restore the LXX. text of Daniel, at least approximately, to the state in which it was when it left Origen's hands; and the readings which it presupposes, when they differ from those of the Chisian MS., are accordingly appended at the foot of the LXX. text in Tischendorf's edition, and (after the more thorough collation of Dr Field in his Hexapla, 11. 908 ff.) in that of Dr Swete (e.g. ii. 28, 29, a long passage which has dropped out of the Chisian text by inadvertence; vii. 27 ¿íσrov for the erroneous ὑψίστῳ).

For further particulars respecting the character of the LXX., and illustrations of its renderings, reference must be made to

1 The Book of Daniel in this version was published first by Bugati in 1788. See further Field, Hexapla, 1. lxvii ff.; and cf. Swete, The Old Testament in Greek, III. p. xiii.

The longer additions in the Greek versions of Dan. (both LXX. and Theod.), The Song of the Three Children, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon, have been referred to above, p. xviii ff.

the Commentaries of Bevan, pp. 42-54, and Behrmann, pp. xxviii-xxx, xxxiv-xxxvii, and to the monograph of A. Bludau, De Alex. Interpr. Libri Danielis indole critica et hermeneutica (1881). Behrmann, also, describes briefly (p. xxxii f., cf. pp. xxxiv-xxxvi) the characteristics of Theodotion's version, of the Peshitta, and of that of Jerome (the Vulgate). There is no Targum to Daniel, just as there is none to Ezra-Nehemiah.

As regards the Massoretic text of Daniel, though it contains, no doubt, a few corrupt or suspicious passages, there are no reasons for questioning that we possess it, on the whole, in a correct form. The LXX., though in isolated passages it may preserve a more original reading, as a whole has no claim whatever to consideration beside it: the liberties which the translator has manifestly taken with his text being such as to deprive the different readings which, if it were a reasonably faithful translation, it might be regarded as presupposing, of all pretensions to originality, except, indeed, in a comparatively small number of instances, in which they are supported by strong grounds of intrinsic probability. The other versions (which deviate very much less widely from the Heb. and Aram. than the LXX. does) also occasionally preserve a reading better than that of the Massoretic text. The principal cases in which the existing text of Daniel may be corrected from the versions are mentioned in the notes; but it must not be inferred that there are no suspicious or doubtful passages beyond those on which corrections have been noted.

The principal commentaries on Daniel in modern times are those of Hävernick (1832), von Lengerke (1835), Hitzig (1850), Auberlen (1857), Ewald (in vol. iii. of his Propheten, ed. 2, 1868: in the translation, vol. v. 152 ff.), Keil (1869), Zöckler, in Lange's 'Bibelwerk' (1870), Reuss in La Bible, Traduction nouvelle, avec introductions et commentaires, O.T., Part vii. (1879), p. 205 ff., Meinhold, in Strack and

1 On the text of the LXX., both in itself, and in the light of the renderings of the Syro-Hex., see also Löhr's study in the ZAŤW. 1895, p. 75 ff., 1896, p. 33 ff. A synopsis of the very numerous variations from the Heb. is given (in English) by Dr Pusey, p. 606 ff. (ed. 2, p. 624 ff.).

[ocr errors]

Zöckler's 'Kurzgef. Komm.' 8th div. p. 257 ff. (1889), Bevan (1892), and Behrmann (1894): the older commentaries, however, including that of Keil (who identifies, for instance, Belshazzar with Evil-merodach), contain much that has been superseded, or shewn to be untenable, by the progress of archaeology. There are also Kamphausen's edition of the Heb. and Aram. text, with critical annotations, in Haupt's Sacred Books of the O.T.' (1896: the part containing the English translation, and exegetical notes, has not at present [July, 1900] appeared); and Marti's translation in Kautzsch's Die Heilige Schrift des AT.s (1894), with brief critical notes (in the Beilagen,' pp. 8789). Dean Farrar's Commentary, in the 'Expositor's Bible' (1895), contains much that is helpful and suggestive. J. D. Prince's Commentary (London and New York, 1899) is especially rich in Assyriological information.

[ocr errors]

Among ancient commentaries, a special value attaches to that of Jerome. Porphyry, a learned and able neo-Platonist, the most distinguished pupil of Plotinus (see the art. PORPHYRY in the Dict. of Christian Biography), had written a treatise (not now extant) in which he sought to shew that the historical survey in Dan. xi. must have been written after the events referred to had taken place; and the information collected by him from Greek historians, whose works are now lost, and preserved to us by Jerome, often throws a welcome light on passages of this chapter, which must otherwise have remained obscure1. There are also many other points on which this, like the other commentaries of the same most learned and industrious Biblical scholar, contains much that is still valuable, and should not be neglected by the student.

On the question of the date of the Book of Daniel, the chief advocates of the traditional view have been Hengstenberg in vol. i. of his Beiträge zur Einl. ins alte Test., 1831 (cf. the discussion of ix. 24-27 in his Christologie des AT.s, 1854—7, iii. 83—235 in Clark's translation); Hävernick in his Comm. (1832), his Neue kritische Untersuchungen, 1838 (a reply to von Lengerke), and his Einleitung, II. ii. (1844), p. 435 ff.; Auberlen; Keil in his Comm. (1869), and his Einleitung, ed. 3, 1873, §§ 131-7; E. B. Pusey in the volume of lectures entitled Daniel the Prophet, 1864 (extremely learned and

1 Jerome, though he upheld himself the interpretation of Dan. xi. 36-45 current at the time (see below, p. 193), added, however, the notable and far-sighted words, ' Pone haec dici de Antiocho, quid nocet religioni nostrae?"

thorough): the same view is also adopted by J. M. Fuller in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' and by J. E. H. Thomson in the 'Pulpit Commentary' (1897),—who, however, like Zöckler (pp. v, 166, 17b, 199 f.), rejects most, if not all, of ch. xi. as an interpolation (pp. iv, vii, xviii, 287), and evades many other difficulties which the book presents by the hypothesis that 'the text is in a very bad state, and has been subjected to various interpolations and alterations' (p. 40b); see also H. Deane, Daniel, his life and times, in the 'Men of the Bible' series (1888). The most complete treatment of the question from the opposite standpoint is that of Kuenen in his Hist.-crit. Onderzoek, Part ii. (1889), §§ 87-92 (in the German translation, the Einleitung, ii. p. 430 ff.): see also Bleek's classical exegetical study, 'The Messianic prophecies in the Book of Daniel,' in the Jahrb. für Deutsche Theologie, 1860, pp. 47-101 (discusses ix. 24-27 very fully; and shews in particular that the acknowledged fact that ch. viii. and xi. 21-35 refer to Ant. Ep., involves, on exegetical grounds, the conclusion that chs. ii., vii., ix., xi. 36—xii., culminate in references to the same age); and Kamphausen's brochure, Das Buch Daniel und die neuere Geschichtsforschung (1893).

Books or monographs dealing with special points are referred to, as occasion requires, in the notes. The most thorough grammar of the Biblical Aramaic is Kautzsch's Gramm. des Bibl.-Aram. (1884); there are shorter grammars by Marti (Kurzgefasste Grammatik der Bibl.Aram. Sprache, 1896), and Strack (Abriss des Bibl.-Aram., ed. 2, 1897). The Commentaries most useful philologically are those of Bevan, Behrmann, and Prince."

The view of the date of the Book of Daniel adopted in the present volume is that accepted by the most moderate and reasonable of recent critics, as Delitzsch (in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie2, vol. iii. (1878), s.v.), Riehm, Einleitung (1890), ii. 292 ff., König, Einleitung (1893), §§ 78-9, Kamphausen, op. cit., and in the Encyclopaedia Biblica, Strack, Einleitung (1895), § 63, Schürer, ii. 613 ff. (Engl. tr. II. iii. p. 49 ff.), C. A. Briggs, Messianic Prophecy (1886), p. 411 f., Sanday, Bampton Lectures, 1893, p. 215 ff., Dillmann, A. T. Theol. (1895), p. 522 f., Ottley, Bampton Lectures, 1897, p. 331 f., Hebrew Prophets (1898), pp. 15, 103 ff., E. L. Curtis in Hastings' Dict. of the Bible, s.v.,

1 The references are to ed. 1: in ed. 2 (1868), after p. 44, the pagination gradually rises till p. 564 in ed. 1=p. 568 in ed. 2.

2 Add now [1901] Marti (in the Kurzer Hand-Comm. zum A.T.).

« السابقةمتابعة »