The vision assures us that the victory will be on the side of truth, and order, and freedom, and home, and God. Thrones will be set, judgment will be pronounced and the scarlet banner of our Immanuel will float over the nations. For that, after all, is the lesson designed to be taught by all these strange and perplexing visions, whether in Daniel or in the Apocalypse. Here is the philosophy of prophecy. Its aim is not to satisfy our curiosity, but to inspire us with courage and faith. The end is righteousness and peace. There have been trying times—years when the bottomless pit seemed to yawn at men’s feet. But the world has not fallen. And the world will not fall. The pierced hands are holding it. It shall swing out of battle into peace, out of tempest into sunshine, out of night into day. And then shall come the ages of everlasting beauty and of the undying song! Behrends.

1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles; youths in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And the prince of the eunuchs gave names unto them: unto Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God made Daniel to find favour and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the youths which are of your own age? so should ye endanger my head with the king. Then said Daniel to the steward, whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he hearkened unto them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths which did eat of the king’s meat. So the steward took away their meat, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse. Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten 21 times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.

DANIEL was taken to Babylon in the first deportation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, seven years, consequently, before the captivity of Jehoiachin, with whom Ezekiel was carried away (Ezek. 1 : 1, 2). Nebuchadnezzar had entered upon the expedition the preceding year (Dan. 1 : 1), when his father was still living, but hastened back after Jerusalem was taken, in consequence of the intelligence of his father’s death, that he might make sure of his own accession to the throne. The two prophets of the Captivity, Ezekiel and Daniel, were called to the exercise of entirely distinct functions. Ezekiel dwelt with the captives at the river Chebar, among whom he labored for their spiritual good, delivering to them such messages as from time to time he received. Daniel was taken directly to the city of Babylon itself, to be in the king’s palace (Dan. 1 : 3, 4), where he rose to a high official position in the administration of the affairs of the empire (2 : 48, 49). While Ezekiel’s task was that of exerting a religious influence upon the exiles themselves, and thus furthering the ends of this severe discipline to which they were subjected, Daniel had his station at the court of the king, where he was to exert an influence on their behalf, protecting them from injurious treatment, and perhaps in due time preparing the way for their return.

Ezekiel was of priestly (Ezek. 1 : 3), Daniel of royal descent (Dan. 1 : 3); and this fact had its influence upon their respective prophecies. While Ezekiel deals largely in the symbols of the sanctuary, and sees in his visions the cherubim (Ezek. 10), the temple, and the ritual (Ezek. 40-48), the future of the people of God being presented to him under the emblem of the re-erection of the earthly sanctuary with greatly enlarged dimensions, and the restoration of the ceremonial service, the same thing is foreshown to Daniel as the establishment of a universal kingdom which is to supersede and outlast every earthly kingdom. W. H. G.

Chap. 1. This chapter introduces Daniel; gives his early personal history and that of his three young friends. They refuse the delicacies of the king’s table, and at their own request are proved on purely vegetable food—successfully (verses 8-16). They appear before the Chaldean king, and are approved (verses 17-21).

2. Daniel is careful to say (with historical accuracy) that at this time the king of Babylon took away only a part of the vessels of the temple. Many more were taken during the short reign of Jeconiah (see 2 K. 24 : 13) and yet some were left behind then, to be taken at the final destruction of the city in the reign of Zedekiah. Of the latter, special mention is made by Jeremiah (chap. 27 : 19-22). This matter of the sacred vessels of the temple was to the Jews of the utmost moment. This heathen king carried these sacred vessels into the house of his god as trophies of victory gained by the favor of his idol over the God of Israel. It was common for heathen kings to honor their own gods in this way. H. C.

4. From Herodotus and Strabo it is evident that there existed in Babylon, as in Egypt and (later on) in Persia, an hereditary order of “priests” named Chaldeans, masters of all the science and literature as well as of the religious ceremonies current among the people, and devoted from very early times to that habit of astronomical observation which their brilliant sky so much favored. This priest class was not, strictly speaking, a caste. It was rather a sacerdotal and a learned society into which foreigners and natives, as well as the sons of the priest-members, were admitted. In the hands of these men the education of the young was deposited; and instruction in their “learning and tongue”—their written documents and scientific language—was a final and necessary part of the education of those whose physical beauty had already secured them commendation. B. C.

Daniel was to be instructed in the language and learning of the Chaldeans. Babylon was a university city, and among the fragments which have been unearthed there, as also at Nineveh, are fragments of text-books, linguistic and scientific. To learn to read and write inscriptions in the Babylonian language, and in the Accadian-Sumerian, the language of the ancient literature of Babylon, was the beginning. Then there was the literature itself to be mastered, little fragments of which have come down to us. But the head and front of Babylonian wisdom was astrology (Dan. 1 : 20); and the largest book, or series of tablets, of which we have knowledge (from the library of Sardanapalus), is a work on astronomy or astrology in seventy volumes. He who acquired the learning of the Chaldeans must have been taught what days of the month were lucky and unlucky for each several enterprise. He must have studied the hidden meanings of eclipses and comets. He must have been trained in that curious pseudo-scientific system by which the astrologers, recording in comparison terrestrial events and celestial configurations and phenomena, sought to ascertain what would happen on earth at some future time by computing the condition of the heavens for that period. And he who was a pupil of the wise men of Babylon must have learned the wisdom of the magi with reference to the stars and star spirits, which are inextricably bound up with the life and fate of the nations and men to whom they belong (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1). Thousands of inscribed clay tablets from Babylon and neighboring cities enable us also to enter into the domestic and financial life of Daniel’s time with singular minuteness. We are learning the price of almost every article of common use from deeds of sale and contracts inscribed on these little clay tablets, and deposited for safe keeping with the banking house of Egibi, and placed in their safety deposit vaults, which were great earthenware jars (Jer. 32:14). We have court records, marriage settlements, wills, and the like, preserved to us in the same manner. J. P. Peters.

6. As far as we can calculate Daniel was about fourteen or fifteen years old when his education began. From the second chapter we learn that this training began immediately after he had been made a captive, and, as the Jewish monarchy had eighteen years of slow wasting and decay to pass through between that third year of Jehoiakim and the fall of Zedekiah, its last weak king, Daniel must have reached the prime of manhood, and have held a position of great power and influence at Nebuchadnezzar’s court long before Jerusalem perished in the flames. The exiled Ezekiel, in coupling his name with those of Noah and Job (Ezek. 14: 14), leads us to the conviction that his reputation for goodness and wisdom was spread throughout the whole region wherein the captive Israelites dwelt. It was a merciful provision for them that at the conqueror’s court there should be one who could do so much to soften the bitterness of their condition, and whose example would strengthen them so greatly in holding firmly to the faith. R. P. S.

7. These names are compounded with the names of the true God; El being wrought into Daniel (meaning judge for God) and into Mishael (who is what God is?), while the last syllable of Jehovah appears in Hananiah (whom Jehovah has graciously given) and Azariah (one helped of God). The new names expunge all recognition of the true God, and honor the Chaldean gods instead; Daniel having Bel wrought into his, Belteshazzar, which means a prince of Bel. H. C.

8-10. Daniel’s first request of the head of the royal household, and the prince’s reply. The remarkable character and gifts of Daniel appear here at the outset of his history. His personal purity and integrity and his wonderful wisdom were manifest at the commencement of his training in the palace. He was then not more than seventeen years of age. The first, and not an inconsiderable proof of his wisdom appears in the form and substance of this request. Not only did he use persuasion, but he proposed a wise and practicable test in reference to the matter of his food. His strong character is expressed by his purpose of heart not to partake of the king’s meat or wine because it would defile him. Doubtless that purpose would have been strong enough to have borne him through any crisis of trial had it come then, as it proved afterward on a memorable occasion. Either the articles of food or the method of their preparation may have been interdicted by the law of Moses; or the meats and wines may have passed through some connections of idolatrous worship, which would have rendered them unfit for use. The request of Daniel clearly implies that some ceremonial uncleanness pertained to the food placed before them, since he asks that he may not defile himself.

The statement of the ninth verse is equally touching and instructive. What it was that gave Daniel favor with the royal chamberlain we are not informed; but only that God had brought the favor and love to his young servant. The principle is stated by Solomon in Prov. 16:7. The fact of the prince’s affection toward Daniel appears in the gentleness of his answer. His lord had appointed their meat and drink; and the chamberlain believed rich living to be essential to well-being and good appearance. To yield to Daniel’s request would for both reasons, therefore, endanger his own life. The highest physical and mental development of these young men was the king’s sole aim. If this was hindered in any way, especially by disregard of the king’s will, then, as was the fashion among Oriental monarchs, the head of the disobeying servant would be unceremoniously stricken off. And old as is the custom which we find here, it has continued to the present day. B.

8. He evinces both his conscientiousness in reference to the law of his God, and his noble self-control in the matter of appetite. He held his appetite in firm subjection to the dictates of enlightened judgment and experience as to what was best for his health and physical vigor. These are among the first and most vital elements in the formation of a character of the highest promise for efficiency and usefulness. H. C.

With respect to the Book of Daniel, the attempt to show that it is opposed to the older prophetical books by its commendation of a legal externalism is utterly vain. Daniel abstains from partaking of the dainties of the royal table because he considers them defiling—not exactly in the sense in which, in the passage Hos. 9:4, the food of the people in captivity is called polluted, but undoubtedly because at the royal repasts it would be impossible to avoid violations of the Mosaic injunctions concerning different kinds of food, and the eating of flesh sacrificed to idols. O.

The Old Testament often seems as if it were inspired especially for young men. The chapter before us answers with singular pertinence the inquiry which every young man ought to ask and answer in a manly way: “What stand shall I take respecting obedience to the drinking usages of society?”

What were Daniel’s temptations to abandon a life of abstinence from strong drink? He was tempted by his youth. He was at the age when appetite is strong, health good, principle weak, and experience not at all. Daniel was tempted also by the usages of his social rank. He was a noble, probably of the blood royal. It was the usage of his order to drink wine, and the best of it, and much of it. Daniel was tempted by the courtesies of official station. He was in training for the first office in the realm. Daniel was tempted also by his absence from home and native land. He was not only in a foreign land, in the Paris of the ancient world, in the court of a king, associating with corrupt young nobles and aristocratic pleasure-seekers, but he was a captive. Put now all these things together—youth, social usage, official rank, professional interests, absence from home and native land, and the mortification of captivity—and where in modern life can you find a case of stronger temptation to a self-indulgent and pleasure-seeking career?

Daniel was true to the education of his childhood. His convictions were doubtless the fruit of early training. He is not ashamed of that. He has been educated to do right, and of that he is not ashamed. His conduct is clearly in contrast, and is meant to be, with the customs of the society around him. He put it on the basis of a religious scruple. “He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat and wine.” Language cannot well express more truthfully the fundamental principle of the temperance reform. The virtue it inculcates is a religious virtue. It is a religious reform or it is nothing. Its opposite involves moral defilement, to which no young man of lofty and pure spirit will subject himself. Pure manhood in this thing needs to respect itself with much of the delicacy of chaste womanhood. Both revere the sacredness of the human body. They treat it as the temple of God. The great thing which a young man needs in a crisis of temptation is to declare for the right quickly. Leave no time for temptation to accumulate. Then intrust consequences to God. It often requires a great deal of character to do that; not only a religious principle, but a strong character back of that. To be content, in a crisis, with the single thought of duty, is one of the grandest things in history. Yet a child can do it. God never disappoints that trust. Phelps.

11-14. Daniel’s second request of the steward, and the latter’s assent to the proposed test. Melzar means steward, a person employed by the chamberlain in the immediate care of all the youths then in training. To this officer Daniel applies, with the simple proposition for a ten days’ trial of a simple diet. He asks that he and his three companions might be fed upon pulse (probably a general term signifying grains of any kind) and water. The result of so short an experiment could have little effect either way, yet enough to serve as an indication of advantage or disadvantage from the diet. So, it would seem with the consent of the chamberlain, he tested the results of the proposed change.

15,16. Result of the experiment. Their countenances appeared fairer and fuller than the other young men, and the steward permanently changed the richer for the simpler diet. This regimen was continued during the three years’ training; and Daniel and his three companions were then found to be superior to the other young men in respect of physical condition as well as in intellectual abilities. There was nothing miraculous in this result. Nor can a just inference be drawn from it in favor of a regimen of bread (or vegetables) and water. It was the religious and not the sanitary bearing of the matter which Daniel had in mind. Not his dietary wisdom but his will was in it— his purpose of heart, to avoid defilement. The physical conditions of life are of great importance, and the obligation to regard them lies clearly enough upon the New Testament pages; but they are only suggested indirectly here. B.

In that brief trial of his youth he laid the foundation of a robust, vigorous manhood. He laid then the train which led to a long and splendid career of courtly usefulness. The mysterious power which subsequently closed the mouths of lions for his safety began at this time to gather around his person. In this early and brief fragment of his life he settled the future of his professional career as a prophet of the living God. Those ten short days secured to him a place in the world’s history, in which he is destined to live in the grateful and reverent affections of mankind forever. The Chaldean monarch and his haughty court live today in the world’s memory only because this young Hebrew seer has condescended to speak of them. As one of the authors of the Word of God, and one of the great actors in the history of God’s Church, he is to live while time lasts. The foundation of this magnificent destiny, extending into two worlds, was built far back in those few days—not longer than a boy’s holidays—in which the character of the young man was proved and his principles tried as a friend of temperance and the child of conscience. Phelps.

17. God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.** By this means, still more than by the patronage of Ashpenaz, they were enabled to command the respect of their fellow-students; and when the time of trial came, envy was crushed and detraction silenced by the signal and glorious success of these four youths, who had trusted in God; for then, “in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” There seems to us something full of overlooked instruction in this. We count it reasonable to look to the Lord for our daily bread; to apply to Him for aid and guidance in the trials and emergencies of life; but how few are they who seek for the same aid from Him and feel the same dependence upon him in matters of the intellect—in learning, in study, in thought! It is very reasonable and becoming—it is very necessary—that when we go forth into the toil and business of the day, or when our affairs present perplexing difficulties, we should cast ourselves upon the Lord’s protection and look to Him for counsel and guidance.

But is it, can it be less needful that when we sit down to read, to write, to study, to think, we should lift up our hearts trustingly to Him and cry,

“What in me is dark

Blumine, what is low raise and support”?

God can and will do this for us; and it would please Him well to be asked to do it. Let us believe that to pray earnestly is to study well; and let us be sure that He will refuse nothing that we seek, in singleness of heart, only for His service and His glory. How many difficulties that seem insuperable would be smoothed, how many blessed thoughts might be suggested, how many forgotten things brought to mind, how many wearinesses refreshed, if we trusted more to God and less to ourselves, in the exercise of such gifts as He may have committed to us, and in the supply of such as we want! Kitto.

18-20. “The end of days” is the expiration of the three years fixed by the king and referred to verse 5. The king “communed with them” for the purpose of sounding their depth and testing their adaptation to his wants. He became abundantly satisfied. Hence they took their position; they “stood before the king,” awaiting orders and ready for his service. This is the usual phrase for servants in attendance upon their superiors. So angels are said to “stand before God.” “Ten times better” is a definite phrase in the sense of an indefinite. H. C.

20. The magicians and astrologers.** These words seem to comprehend the persons in general who were distinguished in the several kinds of learning cultivated among the Chaldees. Of the like character were the magi in Egypt and Persia and the other countries of the East, and those “wise men” that came to our Saviour at His birth. Wintle.

21. Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.** And so witnessed the accomplishment of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the seventy years. This being so remarkable a year, the text takes notice that Daniel lived so long; not but that he lived longer—at least till the third year of Cyrus—as appears from chap. 10:1. W. Lowth.

“Daniel continued” are the simple words; but what a volume of tried faithfulness is unrolled by them! Amid all the intrigues, indigenous at all times in dynasties of Oriental despotism, where intrigue, too, rolls round so suddenly on its author’s head; amid all the envy toward a foreign captive in high office as a king’s councillor; amid all the trouble incidental to the insanity of the king or to the murder of two of his successors—in that whole critical period for his people Daniel “continued.” He saw the rise and fall of the first great empire. He lived long enough to see the last gleam of glory die away like light out of the evening sky. But Daniel through all vicissitudes preserved essentially the same self. Empires might come and go, but Daniel remained the same. Himself, in uniform integrity, outliving envy, jealousy, dynasties; surviving in untarnished, uncorrupting greatness the seventy years of the Captivity; he was honored during the forty-three years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign; “doing the king’s business” under the insolent and sensual boy Belshazzar; owned by the conquering Medo-Persians; the stay, doubtless, and human protector of his people during those long years of exile; probably commissioned to write the decree of Cyrus which gave leave for that long longed-for restoration of his people, whose re-entrance into their land, like Moses of old, he was not to share. Deeds are more eloquent than words. Such undeviating integrity, beyond the ordinary life of man, in a worshipper of the one God, in the most dissolute and depraved of the merchant cities of old, first minister in the first of the world monarchies, was in itself a great fulfilment of the purpose of God in converting the chastisement of His people into the riches of the Gentiles. Pusey.

Suggested Truths.

A fixed purpose is the foundation of a strong character for good or evil. The earlier the habit of decision is formed, the more efficient is the life.

Gentleness and persuasion ought always to precede command and force in all attempts at human reform, whether with the individual or the community.

God is honored, and men are attracted and influenced for good by the manifestation of firmness in moral or religious principle.

Simple habits and the avoidance of self-indulgence are essential to the formation of a high, unselfish character only let the simsimplicity be natural and the self-denial unobtrusive.

To them that ask earnestly, God recompenses trust largely and imparts wisdom liberally. Yet with many, even Christians, the thing most needed is least sought. They ask for blessing upon toil, for the obtaining of daily bread, for aid in emergencies and trials, but seldom do they ask for wisdom in the search after knowledge and the acquisition of learning; seldom do they realize its need in the exercise and the products of thought.

We have “a more sure word of prophecy,” a better and higher knowledge of God and of all spiritual truth, than that obtained in olden time through visions and dreams. For the fulness and clearness of the revealed Scriptures we owe a far deeper and more constant thankfulness than we are wont to cherish. B.

It is force of thought which measures intellectual, and so it is the force of principle which measures moral greatness, that highest of human endowments, that brightest manifestation of the Divinity. The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptations from within and without, who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully, and who is calmest in storms and most fearless under menace and frowns, whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering; and is this a greatness which is apt to make a show, or which is most likely to abound in conspicuous station? The solemn conflicts of reason with passion; the victories of moral and religious principle over urgent and almost irresistible solicitations to self-indulgence; the hardest sacrifices of duty, those of deep-seated affection and of the heart’s fondest hopes; the consolations, hopes, joys, and peace, of disappointed, persecuted, scorned, deserted virtue—these are of course unseen; so that the true greatness of human life is almost wholly out of sight. Perhaps in our presence the most heroic deed on earth is done in some silent spirit, the loftiest purpose cherished, the most glorious sacrifice made, and we do not suspect it. I believe this greatness to be most common among the multitude whose names are never heard. Anon. soon well known in Judah, and are often referred to by Jeremiah. We also gather from his many allusions to things prescribed by the Levitical law, and which were evidently still in use in Israel, coupled with similar incidental references in Amos, that Jeroboam I. had retained the main features of the Mosaical institutions, while engrafting upon them for political purposes a debased symbolism which degraded and corrupted the whole. R. P. S.

Relation to the Sacred Canon.

The Book of Hosea, of a date and of an authenticity which are both unquestionable and in fact unquestioned, is a witness of the utmost value for previous portions of the Old Testament. A number of allusions put it beyond all lawful doubt that Hosea in the eighth century before Christ had in His hands a Hebrew literature identical with much which we possess at the present hour. B. C. (See Bib. Com. vi. 409.)

In this prophet we find abundant references to the books of the Law and the earlier historical books. We can detect allusions to or acquaintance with the contents of each book of the five, and the testimony is the more important because it is so obviously unintentional. We find him speaking of the Law as of a code which existed in writing. He says to Ephraim, in the name of God (8 : 12), “I have written to him the great things of My Law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” Eight hundred years before Christ, then, the Law must have been known in the divided kingdom, and reckoned of sufficient authority to be appealed to as Divine, or for the nation to be charged with contempt of it. Such authority could not have been the growth of a day, and it must have rested on a foundation of some solidity to be acknowledged as authoritative at all. But independently of this, the fact remains that in the writings of Hosea, as of all the prophets, the Law is recognized as the great condemning instrument in the charge which they brought against the nation. Their writings are unintelligible, and their mission is inconceivable, but for the fact of a previously existing Law. When Joel, who perhaps is even older than Hosea, says, using the language of the Mosaic Law (2 : 1), “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain,” he witnesses to two facts : first, that Mount Zion had been so long the centre of Divine worship as to be acknowledged as God’s holy mountain ; and secondly, that it was the scene of those ceremonial and festive observances which the Law prescribed. When the last book of the Law was written it was still a matter of uncertainty where the Lord would place His name, and no place was permanently fixed until the time of David ; but from his time onward, for a period of more than two hundred years, Zion was regarded as the holy mountain, and acquired in the minds of the people that degree of sanctity which in the time of Joel it possessed. But in this respect we must remember it had competed successfully and successively with Gibson, Shiloh and Gilgal. All this was a work of time, but the succession of events not only demands, but supplies the time.

The case, then, stands thus : we have clear reference to the Law 800 B.C. At that time it must have been acknowledged by Israel as well as Judah, and consequently must have dated prior to the division of the kingdom, some two hundred years before. But the same writer (Hosea) makes allusions to the books of Joshua and Judges, which must therefore have been in existence long before his time, and been then accepted as trustworthy history of a much earlier period. But whenever these books were written the Law was still in existence, for it must have preceded them, whatever their date is ; and if their narrative is at all to be trusted, the Law was not only known when they were written, but also known at the times to which they related, long before. Leathes.