Daniel 1:3

Ashpenaz No satisfactory explanation of this name has yet been found. Açpin old Persian means a horse(Sansk. açpa); but the name as a whole, in its present form, is not explicable from either Persian or Babylonian. LXX. has Αβιεσδρι. The word is not improbably a corrupt form (like -Holophernes," in Judith; or -Osnappar," Ezra 4:10).

the master of his eunuchs Eunuchs were, and still are, common in Oriental Courts; they sometimes attained to great influence with the monarch, and were treated by him as confidential servants. Eunuchs are often represented on the Assyrian monuments, where they are readily recognizable by their bloated and beardless faces (cf. Smith, D. B.2 s. v.; Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies4, i. 496 8, iii. 221 223). The -master," or superintendent, of the eunuchs would have the control of the eunuchs employed in the palace, and would naturally hold an important position at court. The principal eunuch, with other eunuchs under him, would have the care of the royal harem; and the training of youths for the service of the king was a duty which would be naturally entrusted to him [178]. Cf. the prophecy, 2 Kings 20:18 (Isaiah 39:7); though it is not said that Daniel and his companions were made eunuchs, and it is too much to infer this (as has been done) from the statement that they were put in charge of the -master of the king's eunuchs": in Persia eunuchs superintended the education of the young princes (Rawl. Anc. Mon.4, iii. 221); and in Turkey, Rycaut states (see the note below), a eunuch had charge of the royal pages.

[178] In Turkey, as described by Rycaut in 1668 (The Ottoman Empire, p. 35 ff.) the office was divided, the women being under the charge of a black eunuch, called Kuzlir Agasi, and the selected youths who were being educated in the Seraglio as pages for the royal service (together with the white eunuchs employed about the Court) being under the superintendence of a white eunuch, the Capa Aga(p. 25 ff.).

bring bring in (R.V.), viz. into the palace (Daniel 1:18).

children of Israel The expression would include, at the time here referred to, men of Benjamin and Levi, as well as of Judah (cf. Ezra 1:5; Ezra 4:1; Ezra 10:9), perhaps also men of other tribes who had migrated into the territory of Judah.

and of the seed royal, and of the nobles] If the first ו (-and") is to be taken in its obvious sense, the reference must be to members of the royal family and nobility of Babylon (so Prof. Bevan). Most commentators render both(cf. Daniel 8:13; Jeremiah 32:20; Psalms 76:7 [A.V. 6]), though that is hardly a sense which it would naturally convey in the present sentence. Perhaps it is best to understand it in the sense of and in particular(cf. Daniel 8:10).

of the seed royal] Lit. seed of royalty, or of the kingdom:so Jeremiah 41:1 (2 Kings 25:25); Ezekiel 17:13. Not necessarily the descendants of the reigning -king." LXX. -of the royal race."

nobles] Heb. partĕmim, elsewhere only in Esther 1:3; Esther 6:9: the Pers. fratama, Sansk. fratema, akin etymologically to πρότ-ερος, πρῶτ-ος. "The phrase martiyâ fratamâ, -foremost men," occurs several times in the Achaemenian inscriptions" (Bevan).