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from E. to W., are a standing witness to the size and magnificence of the buildings which formed the ancient citadel or acropolis. The plan of the citadel, and many remains of the buildings of which it consisted, have been recovered by M. Dieulafoy. Artaxerxes, in an inscription found on one of the columns, says, "My ancestor Darius built this Apadâna in ancient times. In the reign of Artaxerxes, my grandfather, it was consumed by fire. By the grace of Ahuramazda, Anaïtis, and Mithras, I have restored this Apadâna." An Apadâna (see on Dan. xi. 45) was a large hall or throne-room. The Apadâna of Susa stood on the N. of the acropolis: it formed a square of about 250 feet each way. The roof (which consisted of rafters and beams of cedar, brought from Lebanon) was supported by 36 columns in rows of six; the sides and back were composed of walls of brick, each pierced by four doors; the front of the hall was open. The columns were slender shafts of limestone, delicately fluted, and topped by magnificently carved capitals. In front of the hall, on each side, was a pylon or colonnade, with a frieze at the top 12 feet high, formed of beautifully enamelled bricks, the one decorated by a procession of lions, the other by a procession of 'Immortals,' the armed life-guards of the Persian kings1. A garden surrounded the Apadâna, and in front of it, on the south, was a large square for military manoeuvres, &c. Adjoining it, on the east, was a large block of buildings forming the royal harem (the 'house of the women' of Est. ii. 3, &c.): south of this was the royal palace, with a court in the centre (Est. iv. 11, v. 1). The entire acropolis covered an area of 300 acres.

It was this entire complex of buildings that was called the Birah, or 'citadel".'

CHAP. IX. THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS.

In the first year of 'Darius the Mede,' Daniel, considering that the 70 years of desolation prophesied by Jeremiah (xxv. 11; cf. v. 12, xxix. 10) were drawing to their close, implores God to forgive His people's sin, and to look favourably upon His ruined city and sanctuary (vv. 1-19). The angel Gabriel explains to Daniel that it would be, not 70 years, but 70 weeks of years (i.e. 490 years), before the iniquity of the people would be pardoned, and the promised deliver ance be finally effected (vv. 20-24). The period of 70 weeks is then divided into three smaller ones, 7+62 +1; and it is said: (a) that 7 weeks (=49 years) will elapse from the going forth of the word' for the rebuilding of Jerusalem to an anointed one, a prince;' (b) that for 62 weeks (=434 years) the city will be rebuilt, though

1 In one of the galleries at the Louvre several rooms are devoted to sculptures, &c., brought from Susa, and to a restoration of parts of the apadâna.

2 See further Evetts, Fresh Light on the Bible, p. 229 ff.; Vigouroux, La Bible et les découvertes modernes, ed. 6, 1896, iv. 621 ff.; and esp. Dieulafoy, L'Acropole de Suse (Paris, 1890-92), passim: also Mme. Dieulafoy, A Suse, Journal des Fouilles, 1884-6 (1888), and La Perse, la Chaldée, et la Susiane (1887), Chap. xxxix.-all with numerous illustrations and Maps; also, more briefly, Billerbeck's excellent monograph, Susa (1893).

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of 9 the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, 2 whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the in straitened times; (c) that at the end of these 62 weeks 'an anointed one' will be cut off, and the people of a prince that shall come will 'destroy' the city and the sanctuary: he will make a covenant with many for 1 week (=7 years), and during (the second) half of this week he will cause sacrifice and meal-offering to cease, until his end come, and the destined doom overtake him (v. 25-27). The general sense of these verses is to postpone the fulfilment of the promises given by Jeremiah to the end of 490 years; and to describe in outline the troubles which must be gone through, in the closing years of this period, before the fulfilment can take place.

1. Darius] i.e. 'Darius the Mede,' v. 31: cf. vi. 1 ff. The date is fixed suitably: the first year after the conquest of Babylon would be a time when, in view of the promises of Jeremiah and the second Isaiah (e.g. Is. xliv. 28, xlv. 13), thoughts of restoration would naturally be stirring in the minds of the Jewish exiles.

the son of Ahasuerus] Ahasuerus,-properly 'Achashwērōsh, also in Ezr. iv. 6, and Esther, passim-is the Hebrew form of the Persian Khshayarsha, the Greek Xerxes, called in contemporary Aramaic Chshiarsh (n)1. Cf. p. liv, and on v. 31.

of the seed of the Medes] See v. 31. For the expression cf. Est. vi. 13.

was made king] See on v. 31, 'received the kingdom.'

2. by the books] i.e. the sacred books, the Scriptures. The neglect of the Heb. article in the A. V. obscures here an important point; for 'the books' can only be naturally understood as implying that, at the time when the passage was written, some definite collection of sacred writings already existed (comp. Ryle, Canon of the Old Test., p. 112). We do not however learn more respecting its contents except that it included the prophecies of Jeremiah. The phrase might also be rendered (Hitz., Keil, Behrm.) observed in the books.

which the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish for the desolations of Jerusalem, (even) seventy years] See Jer. xxv. 12, and especially xxix. 10, which, being followed by promises of restoration, addressed to Israel, seems to have been particularly in the writer's mind. Cf. 2 Ch. xxxvi. 21.

3-19. Daniel's prayer, consisting (1) of a confession of national transgression, and of the justice of God's punishment (vv. 4-14), and (2) of a supplication for mercy and restoration (vv. 15-19). The prayer evinces great depth and fervour of religious feeling. In style it is Deuteronomic; in fact, it is composed largely of reminiscences of

1 See the writer's Introduction, p. 512 (ed. 6, p. 546), note.

3 desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said,

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O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them 5 that keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy

Deut., the prayer of Solomon in 1 Ki. viii., and (especially) of Jeremiah (in particular, of Jer. xxvi., xxxii., xliv.): there are also some noticeable parallels with the prayers in Neh. i., ix., and Ezra ix. (see on vv. 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15, 18). The most striking resemblances are, however, with parts of the confession and supplication in Baruch i. 15-iii. 18; on which see further the Introd. p. lxxiv f.

3. set my face] i.e. directed myself: cf. 2 Ch. xx. 3 (lit. 'set his face to seek unto Jehovah').

to seek prayer, &c.] i.e. to apply myself to prayer, &c.

with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes] marks of mourning, and the usual accompaniments of supplication, penitence, and confession. Cf. Is. lviii. 5; Ezr. viii. 23; Neh. ix. 1; Jonah iii. 5, 6; Est. iv. 1, 3, 16. and made confession] Lev. v. 5, xvi. 21, xxvi. 40, Num. v. 7, 2 Ch. xxx. 22; and in a context similar to the present one, Ezr. x. I, Neh. i. 6, ix. 2, 3, as well as below, v. 20.

4.

O Lord] Ah, now! Lord, beginning with a strong particle of entreaty. So Neh. i. 5, where the same particle is equally obliterated in A.V., R.V. In Neh. i. II, Is. xxxviii. 3, Ps. cxvi. 4 (but not in v. 16), cxviii. 25, it is rendered I (or we) beseech thee.

the great...commandments] A quotation from Deut. vii. 9, with the substitution of great and terrible (as Deut. vii. 21) for faithful. The whole verse, from and said, is also almost identical with Neh. i. 5 (cf. Neh. ix. 32 a).

5. We have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly] from 1 Ki. viii. 47, with extremely slight differences, indicated in R.V. by the substitution of done for dealt, and of dealt for done. Ps. cvi. 6 is based similarly on 1 Ki. viii. 47.

and have turned aside from thy commandments] Cf. Deut. xvii. 20; Ps. cxix. 102. 'Even' with the partic. is quite false; the construction of the Heb. is one with which every tyro is familiar (Gen. xli. 43, Ex. viii. 11, &c.).

judgements] i.e. ordinances, as the word is sometimes rendered (Josh. xxiv. 25; 2 Ki. xvii. 34, 37; Is. lviii. 2). Properly a judicial decision, which being made legally binding, becomes a standing ordinance; the word being then generalized, it is applied to moral and religious ordinances, as well as to statutes of the civil and criminal law, Ex. xxi. 1). See e.g. Lev. xviii. 4, 5, 26; Deut. iv. 1, 5, 8, 14, &c.

judgements: neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the 6 prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, 7 righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion 8 of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our 9 God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have

6. The guilt is the greater, because Israel had been warned, but had not listened to the warning.

neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets] A reminiscence of Jer. xxvi. 5; cf. vii. 25, xxv. 4, xxix. 19, xxxv. 15, xliv. (all containing the expression 'my servants the prophets,' followed by and ye (or they) hearkened not').

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to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land] The same combination in Jer. xliv. 21; cf. 'our fathers, our kings, and our princes,' Jer. xliv. 17: comp. Neh. ix. 32, 34.

7. Thus righteousness belongs only to God: to the sinful people only confusion and shame. With vv. 7, 8b, cf. Baruch i. 15-17.

confusion of faces, &c.] Cf. Ezr. ix. 7, ‘and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered...to confusion of face, as (it is) this day.' Lit. 'shame of face,' as the same expression is rendered in 2 Ch. xxxii. 21; cf. Ps. xliv. 15, 'shame of my face;' Jer. vii. 19, 'the shame of their own faces'; also Ps. lxix. 7. The meaning is the shame (i.e. disappointment) which is visible upon the face after a repulse, disaster, &c.

as (it is) this day] as experience shews is now the case.

the men (lit. man,—collectively) of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem] A combination found otherwise only in Jer. (8 times),e.g. iv. 4, xxxii. 32,—and 2 Ki. xxiii. 2 (=2 Ch. xxxiv. 30). An evident reminiscence of the language of Jer.: cf. all the countries whither thou hast driven them' from Jer. xvi. 15, xxiii. 3, 8, xxxii. 37.

that are near and that are far off] Jer. xxv. 26; cf. Is. lvii. 19. their unfaithfulness wherein they have dealt unfaithfully against thee] The idea of mã‘al is disloyalty rather than 'trespass.' The same phrase Lev. xxvi. 40; Ez. xvii. 20, xviii. 24, xxxix. 26; 1 Ch. x. 13. Both the subst. and the cognate verb are almost confined to the priestly sections of the Hexateuch, to Ezek., and the Chronicles: cf., however, the subst. in Ezr. ix. 2, 4, x. 6, and the verb in Ezr. x. 2, 10; Neh. i. 8, xiii. 27.

8. to our kings, &c.] Cf. Jer. xliv. 17 (quoted on v. 6).

9. mercies] The word often rendered tender mercies' (Ps. xxv. 6,

DANIEL

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10 rebelled against him; neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set 11 before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not 13 been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that

xl. 11, &c.). The cognate verb and adj. are often rendered by have compassion on (e.g. Is. xlix. 15), and full of compassion (e.g. Ps. lxxviii. 38). Compassion would be the best word to adopt uniformly for this word and its cognates.

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forgivenesses] Ps. cxxx. 4, With thee is forgiveness'; and Neh. ix. 17, a God of forgivenesses.'

though] because or for. The clause explains how it is that there is need for the exercise of forgiveness by God.

10. obeyed (lit. hearkened to) the voice, &c.] So Ex. xv. 26, xix. 5; and especially in Deut. (as iv. 30, ix. 23, xxviii. 1, 2, 15), and Jer. (as iii. 13, ix. 13, xliv. 23). Cf. with this verse Bar. i. 18, ii. 10.

to walk in his laws] Cf. Jer. xxvi. 4, xxxii. 23, xliv. 10, 23.

which he set before us] See Deut. iv. 8, xi. 32; Jer. ix. 13, xliv. 10, and esp. xxvi. 4 (cf. the last clause).

11. even by departing] and have turned aside, as v. 5.

so as not to obey (hearken to) thy voice] as Jer. xviii. 10, xlii. 13 (Heb.). and so there hath been poured out upon us the curse and the oath, that is written, &c.] 'Poured out,' as Jer. xlii. 18, xliv. 6 (of anger): 'the curse that is written in,' as Deut. xxix. 20, the reference being here to Deut. xxviii. 15 ff.; 'curse' strengthened by oath,' as Num. v. 21, Neh. x. 29.

Moses, the servant of God] Neh. x. 29: and (with Jehovah for God) Deut. xxxiv. 5, and often in Josh. (as i. 1, 13, 15, viii. 31, 33).

12. confirmed his words] The phrase as Neh. ix. 8; cf. Deut. ix. 5, 1 Ki. viii. 20, al. with this verse, cf. Bar. ii. 1, 2.

judges] apparently a general term for rulers, as Ps. ii. 10.

by bringing, &c.] to bring evil upon' is a phrase common in Jer., as xxxv. 17, xxxvi. 31 (where 'pronounced' is lit. spake, as here). for] better, so that, such that, I Ki. iii. 12.

under the whole heaven] cf. on vii. 27.

13. As it is written, &c.] Cf. Deut. xxviii. 156, xxx. I.

yet have we not intreated the favour of (R.V.)] lit. made the face sweet (i.e. gracious), the idiom used with reference to a human object

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