_JEHOIAKIM'S CAPTIVITY. ASHPENAZ TAKETH DANIEL, HANANIAH, MISHAEL, AND
AZARIAH: THEY REFUSING THE KING'S PORTION, DO PROSPER WITH PULSE AND
WATER: THEIR EXCELLENCY IN WISDOM._
_Before Christ 606._
THIS chapter relates the history of Daniel during the early part of
his captivity, and especially th... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE THIRD YEAR— It was in the eighth year of Jehoiakim that
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against him, _and bound him in
fetters to carry him to Babylon:_ 2 Chronicles 36:6. But promising
fidelity, the king of Babylon restored him to his kingdom, and
_Jehoiakim became his servant three year... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH PART OF THE VESSELS— _And part of the vessels of the house of
God; and he brought them,_ &c. _Shinar_ was the original name of the
country of Babylon.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MASTER—THE KING'S SEED— _The prince—the royal seed:_ the
Hebrew word for princes פרתמים _partemim._ Aquila and the LXX,
as cited in Montfaucon's Hexapla, render it επιλεκτων,
_choice persons,_ and another Greek version ευγενων, _noble,
well-born;_ it seems a compound of the Persic פר _per,_ from... [ Continue Reading ]
SO NOURISHING THEM THREE YEARS— _That after they had been educated
for three years, at the end,_ &c. Houbigant; or, _And that they should
be thus bred up three years, and at the end thereof they should
stand,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO WHOM, &C.— This change of names was a mark of dominion and
authority: masters imposed new names upon their slaves. _Daniel_
signifies, _God is my judge,_ or _the judgment of God;
Belteshazzar—the treasurer of Baal,_ or, "The depositary of the
secrets, or treasure of Baal." _Hananiah_ signifies,... [ Continue Reading ]
DANIEL PURPOSED IN HIS HEART— Daniel had two reasons for refusing
the meat from the king's table: first, because the heathens ate
indiscriminately all sorts of food, and consequently such as was
forbidden by the law of Moses: the _second,_ because it was the custom
of most nations before their meals... [ Continue Reading ]
TENDER LOVE— רחמים _rachamim,_ Bowels of compassion. It has a
like sense also at ch. Daniel 2:18. The word is of very strong import,
and denotes a kind of parental compassion. St. Paul has an expression
somewhat like it, if not stronger, in his epistle to Philemon, Daniel
1:12. "Receive him, that is... [ Continue Reading ]
PULSE— _Pulse_ here signifies all sorts of _roots_ or _herbs._... [ Continue Reading ]
DREAMS— Namely, those sent from God to portend future events; which
were easily distinguished from fortuitous dreams; if, for instance,
they had nothing in them preposterous, nothing irregular, nothing
monstrous; and if the whole order and consequences of things were
regularly preserved in them, fro... [ Continue Reading ]
MAGICIANS AND ASTROLOGERS— These names may perhaps be taken in a
good sense, as the _wise men_ in St. Matthew; and the _astrologers_
perhaps were then in general the same as _astronomers_ with us.
However, it cannot be collected from these words, that Daniel applied
himself to the study of magic art... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DANIEL CONTINUED— He was known, employed, and continued under
Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, till the monarchy passed from the
Chaldeans to the Persians, in the person of Cyrus; under which prince
also he maintained his authority.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, God had threatened Hezekiah, to punish him... [ Continue Reading ]