Daniel 1:20

The king found further, upon putting to them difficult questions, that in a knowledge of the technicalities of their science the four Jewish youths excelled even the wise men of Babylon themselves.

and in every particular of reasoned wisdom] lit. wisdom of understanding, i.e. wisdom determined or regulated by understanding, -wisdom" having the same concrete sense of -science" which it has in Daniel 1:17. Marti, however, following Theod., reads -wisdom andunderstanding."

magicians ḥarṭummim, recurring in Daniel 2:2; Daniel 2:10; Daniel 2:27; Daniel 4:7; Daniel 4:9; Daniel 5:7, probably of Egyptian origin (though not at present known to occur in Egyptian inscriptions), used otherwise only of the -magicians" of Egypt (Genesis 41:8; Genesis 41:24; Exodus 7:11; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:7; Exodus 8:18-19; Exodus 9:11), and no doubt borrowed from the Pent. by the author of Daniel. The precise sense of the term is difficult to fix. It is not improbable that originally it denoted the sacred scribes(ἱερογραμματεῖς) [186] of Egypt; but, even if this opinion be accepted, it is doubtful how far the idea was consciously present to the Hebrews who in later times used the word. In Gen. the ḥarṭummimappear as interpreters of dreams (LXX. ἐξηγηταί), in Ex. as men able to work magic (LXX. ἐπαοιδοί, in Daniel 9:11 φαρπακοί): Theod. in Dan. renders by ἐπαοιδοί. Probably the word was used by the author of Daniel in the sense of men acquainted with occult arts in general, so that the rendering -magician" may be allowed to stand.

[186] Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. 36; cf. Ebers, Aeg. u. die Bb. Mose's, pp. 343, 347. On the functions of these sacred scribes, and the nature of the literature with which they had to deal (which included a knowledge of magic and charms), see Brugsch, Aegyptologie(1891), pp. 77, 85, 149 159.

astrologers enchanters, Heb. "ashshâph, Aram. "âshaph, found only in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2:2; Daniel 2:10; Daniel 2:27; Daniel 4:4; Daniel 5:7; Daniel 5:11; Daniel 5:15), the Assyrian ashipu(Schrader, KAT[187][188] ad loc), which passed also into Syriac, where it is used specially of the charmers of serpents.

[187] AT.Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O.T.1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the original, which is given on the margin of the English translation.

[188] Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O.T.1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the original, which is given on the margin of the English translation.