صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

largely orthographical: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan did not probably receive their present form before the 4th cent. A.D.1: and we are not in a position to affirm that the transition from the Aramaic of Daniel and Ezra to that of the Targums must have required eight or nine centuries, and could not have been accomplished in four or five; (2) recently discovered inscriptions have shewn that many of the forms in which it differs from the Aramaic of the Targums were in use in neighbouring countries, especially in Palmyra and Nabataea, down to the 1st cent. A.D.2

A particularly clear indication that the Aramaic of Daniel was not that spoken in Babylon in the 6th cent. B.C. is afforded by the fact that in the numerous, if brief, Aramaic inscriptions from Nineveh and Babylon which we possess, dating from c. 725 B.C. to the 5th cent., the relative is regularly ", not, as uniformly in Dan. (and Ezra), " (see the Corpus Inscr. Sem. II. i. Nos. I, 2, 3 NPN * III [Jer. x. 11; L.0.T.o p. 255], 4, B.C. 504, Nos. 69–71, B.C. 418, from Babylon)3.

'three m'nas of the country' 5, 17, 28, 30, &c., esp. No. 65, 407, 408, all contract-tablets

(4) The Hebrew of Daniel is also that of a much later age than the sixth cent. B.C. The type of Hebrew which it mostly resembles is not that of Ezekiel, or of Isaiah xl.—lxvi., or even

investigations) by Dr Pusey, Daniel, ed. 2, pp. 45 ff., 602 ff. (an interesting lexical point is that the vocabulary agrees sometimes with Syriac against the Targums). But when all are told, the differences are far outweighed by the resemblances; so that relatively they cannot be termed important or considerable. (The amount of difference is much exaggerated in the Speaker's Commentary, p. 228. The statement in the text agrees with the judgment of Nöldeke, l.c. p. 648 b.)

1 Deutsch in Smith's D. B. iii. 1644, 1652; cf. Dalman, Gramm. des füd.-Pal. Aramäisch, pp. 9, 11 (5th cent. A.D.).

See particulars in the writer's Introduction, p. 472 f. (ed. 6 or 7, p. 504). Numerous specimens of the inscriptions there referred to may be seen in Lidzbarski's excellent Handbuch, quoted above, pp. 447, 450 (No. C), 451-5, 457-481; or G. A. Cooke's North-Semitic Inscriptions (1903), p. 214 ff., 263 ff.

3 Cf. N and N, for the demonstr. pron., in the Inscriptions from Zinjirli, Cilicia, Têma, and Egypt, not, as in Ezr., Dan., Palmyrene, and Nabataean, 7, 7 (Lidzbarski, p. 264; S. A. Cook, Glossary of Aramaic Inscriptions, 1898, pp. 46, 49); G. A. Cooke, Index, p. 367.

of Haggai and Zechariah, but that of Esther, Ecclesiastes (to a certain extent), and especially the Chronicles (c. B.C. 300). The Hebrew of the three last-named books differs in a marked degree from that of all earlier writers, even including those who lived in the early post-exilic period. In vocabulary many new words appear, often of Aramaic origin, occasionally Persian, and frequently such as continued in use afterwards in the 'New Hebrew' of the Mishna (200 A.D.), &c.; old words also are sometimes used with new meanings or applications. In syntax, the ease and grace and fluency of the earlier writers (down to at least Zech. xii.—xiv.) have passed away; the style is often laboured and inelegant; and new and uncouth constructions make their appearance. The beginnings of these peculiarities are observable in the 'memoirs' of Ezra and Nehemiah (i.e. the parts of Ezra and Neh. which are the work of these reformers themselves)1; but they become much more numerous afterwards. The three books mentioned above do not, however, exhibit them in equal proportions: Ecclesiastes has the most striking Mishnic idioms: the Chronicler3 has many peculiarities of his own, and may be said to shew the greatest uncouthness of style; but they agree in the possession of many common (or similar) features, which differentiate them from all previous Hebrew writers (including Zech., Hagg., Mal.), and which recur in them with decidedly greater frequency and prominence than in the memoirs of Ezra and Neh. And the Hebrew of Daniel is of the type just characterised: in all distinctive features it resembles, not the Hebrew of Ezekiel, or even of Haggai and Zechariah, but that of the age subsequent to Nehemiah.

In the writer's Introduction p. 474 f. (506 f.) will be found a list of upwards of thirty expressions, some found otherwise only in postBiblical Hebrew, or in Aramaic, others common to the Hebrew of Daniel and that of Chronicles and other late writings, but occurring never, or (in the case of one or two) very rarely, in the earlier literature. For instances of sentences constructed in the later, uncouth style, see

1 See the writer's Introduction, p. 511 ff. (ed. 6 or 7, p. 544 ff.). 2 Ibid. p. 444 ff. (474 f.).

8 Ibid. p. 502 ff. (535 ff.).

viii. 12 ff., 24 ff., ix. 25 ff., x. 9 b, xii. 11, and the greater part of ch. xi. The only part of the Book in which a better style prevails is the prayer of ch. ix.; but here the thought expresses itself almost entirely in phrases borrowed from earlier writings (esp. Deut. and Jer.).

The supposition that Daniel may have unlearnt in exile the language of his youth does not satisfy the requirements of the case: it does not explain, viz., how the new idioms which he acquired should have so exactly agreed with those which appeared in Palestine independently 250 years afterwards. Daniel himself, also, it is probable, would not (unlike both Jer. and Ezek.) have uniformly written the name Nebuchadnezzar incorrectly (see the note on i. 1).

It is evident that the author is more at home in Aramaic than in Hebrew, and writes it much more idiomatically and fluently. No doubt it was the language which was spoken around him, and which he would use naturally himself (cf. p. lix, note). 'The recently discovered fragments of the original Hebrew of Ecclesiasticus shew,' however, that a very fair imitation of classical Hebrew was written in the Greek period' (W. H. Bennett in A Biblical Introduction, 1899, p. 226). The Heb. style of Daniel is not, however, identical with that of Ben-Sira, any more than it is identical with that of Ecclesiastes. The age was a transitional one; and different writers adopted different styles, according to choice. The author of Ecclesiastes yielded himself largely to the 'New Hebrew,' which had already developed considerably, especially in the schools. The author of the book of Daniel wrote sometimes in Hebrew, sometimes in Aramaic: in his Hebrew, like the Chronicler, he writes in imitation of the older Biblical style, though constantly, in idiom and vocabulary, betraying his later date. Ben-Sira did the same, and in some respects with better success than either of these other writers: his general style is decidedly more flowing and idiomatic than theirs, but his vocabulary is marked by a greater proportion of Aramaic and New Hebrew words.

It may interest the reader to see Delitzsch's judgement on this subject (Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie, s.v. DANIEL, p. 470); "The Hebrew of Daniel attaches itself here and there to Ezekiel (cf. p ny time of the end, xi. 35, 40, xii. 4, viii. 17, with pyny time of the iniquity of the end, Ez. xxi. 30, 34, xxxv. 5; DIN son of man in the address to the seer, viii. 17, as regularly in Ezekiel)1; and also to

1 Delitzsch means that the writer borrows particular expressions from Ezek. He might have added one or two more: as 'n the

Habakkuk (cf. xi. 27, 29, 35, with Hab. ii. 3); in general character it resembles the Hebrew of the Chronicler, who wrote shortly before the beginning of the Greek period [B.C. 333], and, as compared either with the ancient Hebrew or with the Hebrew of the Mishnah, is full of singularities (Sonderbarkeiten) and harshnesses of style1.'

The verdict of the language of Daniel is thus clear. The Persian words presuppose a period after the Persian empire had been well established: the Greek words demand, the Hebrew supports, and the Aramaic permits, a date after the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great (B.C. 332). With our present knowledge, this is as much as the language authorizes us definitely to affirm; though ovμpwvía, as the name of an instrument (considering the history of the term in Greek), would seem to point to a date somewhat advanced in the Greek period.

(iii) The theology of the Book (in so far as it has a distinctive character) points to a later age than that of the Exile. It is true, this argument has sometimes been stated in an exaggerated form, as when, for instance, it is said that the doctrine of the resurrection, or that of distinctions of rank and office among the angels, is derived from Parseeism, or that the asceticism of Daniel and his companions, and the frequency of their prayers, &c., are traits peculiar to the later Judaism. For exaggerations such as these there is no adequate foundation: nevertheless it is undeniable that the conception of the future kingdom of God, and the doctrines of angels, of the resurrection, and of a judgement on the world, appear in Daniel in a more developed form than elsewhere in the O.T., and exhibit features

3.

beauty, viii. 9, and 187 18, the land of beauty, xi. 16, 41 (cf. v. 45), of Canaan (comp. Jer. iii. 19, Ezek. xx. 6, 15); Sbp nwn), burnished brass, x. 6, Ezek. i. 7; an ab, clothed in linen, xii. 6 f., Ezek. ix. The statement in Smith's Dict. of the Bible (ed. 1) and the Speaker's Comm. (p. 227), that the language of Daniel bears the closest affinity' to that of Ezek. is altogether incorrect, and seems indeed to be due merely to a misunderstanding of Delitzsch's expression in Herzog (ed. 1).

1 Comp. Breasted, Hebraica, vii. (1891), p. 246.

approximating to (though not identical with) those met with in the Book of Enoch (which was written probably, for the most part, during the century following the rise of the Maccabees). Whether the 'one like unto a son of man' in vii. 13 symbolizes the Messiah or the ideal people of Israel (see p. 104 f.), the representation of the judgement upon heathen powers, and of the manner in which the Divine kingdom is inaugurated upon earth (vii. 9—14, 26, 27), is unlike any other representation of the same facts contained in the Old Testament: let the reader study, for example, successively Am. ix. 9-15; Hos. i. 10-ii. I, xiv. 4—8; Is. ii. 2—4, iv. 2—6, ix. 1—7, xi., xxviii. 18—24, xxix. 18-24, xxxii. 1–8; Jer. xxiii. 1—8, xxxi., xxxiii.; Ez. xxxiv. 11 —31, xxxvi.; Is. liv., lv., lx.; and he can hardly fail to feel that when he comes to Dan. vii. he is in a different circle of ideas: on the other hand, the representation in Daniel (as shewn on pp. 85 f., 106 f.) has many traits resembling those appearing shortly afterwards in the Book of Enoch. Angels, again, have in ✓ Daniel 'special personal names (viii. 16, ix. 21, x. 13, 21, xii. 1), special ranks (x. 13, 20, xii. 1), and the guardianship of different countries (x. 13, 20, 21)1. These representations go far beyond those of Ezek., and Zech., and are relatively identical with those of Tobit, and other Jewish writings of the first cent. B.C. Daniel plainly teaches a personal resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked (xii. 2). This also is a decided advance upon the doctrine taught elsewhere in the O.T....... Thus while the determination of the date of an O.T. writing from its religious doctrines is always a delicate procedure, yet, as far as a doctrinal development can be found in the O.T., the Book of Daniel comes after all other O.T. writings, and approximates inost closely to the Jewish literature of the first cent. B.C.'3

Even though there should be no truth in the opinion that these developments have been even partially moulded by foreign

1 See further the notes on iv. 13, viii. 16, x. 13.

2 Comp. p. xc ff.

3 Curtis in Hastings' Dict. of the Bible, i. 554.

« السابقةمتابعة »