Daniel

171 Pages·1965·10.848 MB·English

by  Norman W. Porteous

Daniel
NORMAN W. PORTEOUS
DANllIElL
A Commentary
The Westminster Press
PHILADELPHIA
NORMAN W. PORTEOUS
DANIEL
THE OLD TESTAMENT LIBRARY
General Editors
G. ERNEST WRIGHT, The Divinity School, Harvard Univenity
JOHN BRIGHT, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
JAMES BARR, Princeton Theological Seminary
PETER ACKROYD, Univenity of London
@ SCM Press Ltd 1965
The German translation of this book, Vas Vanielbuch
(Das Alte Testament Deutsch, IS)
@ Vandcnhoeck &: Ruprecht in Gc)ttingen, 1962
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-21071
To my unforgettable teacher
Adam C. Welch
in grateful remembrance
PVBLlSHED BY THE WESTMINSTER. PR.ESS
e
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
Preface
7
Abbreviations
9
Bibliograplly
II
Introd uction 13
COMMENTARY
Chapter One 23
Chapter Two 34
Chapter Three 53
Chapter Four 63
Chapter Five 74
Chapter Six 85
Chapter Seven 93
Chapter Eight 118
Chapter Nine 131
Chapters Ten, Eleven, Twelve 145
PREFACE
T
HIS COMMENTARY ON the Book of Daniel appeared in 1962
as Volume 23 of the German series of commentaries Das AIle
Testament Deutsch (ATD). The author wishes to express his
warmest thanks to his friend Professor Walter Beyerlin of the Univer
sity of Kiel who, with the assistance of Rudolf Walz, produced the
German translation and to Professor Artur Weiser, the Editor of
ATD, for his unfailing kindness, encouragement and patience. He is
also under obligation to Professor G. R. Driver for invaluable assist
ance in elucidating many difficult problems of interpretation, and to
his colleague, Dr Ronald Clements, for ungrudging help in the task of
proof-reading. As in the case of other volumes of ATD which have
appeared in The Old Testament Library it has been thought advis
able to print as the basic text the American Revised Standard Ver
sion (RSV) instead of the author's original translation. In a number of
places, however, footnotes have been added to indicate divergences
from the RSV where these seemed to be of consequence for the
commentary.
Owing to the special character of this commentary with its theo
logical slant it is assumed that students of the Book of Daniel will turn
to other commentaries for much of the linguistic, historical and re
ligious-historical information which could not find a place here.
Those who desire an up-to-date Protestant commentary in German
cannot do better than use the one by A. Bentzen (HAT2, 1952),
while English readers are singularly well served by the commentaries
of J. A. Montgomery (ICC, 1927), R. H. Charles (1929), E. W.
Heaton (Torch, 1956), A. Jeffery (IB, 1956) and J. Barr (in Peake's
Commentary on the Bible, 1962). To the works of Bentzen, Montgomery,
Heaton and Jeffery in particular (J. Barr's short commentary ap
peared too late to be used) the author is particularly indebted and
also to various well-known writings of H. H. Rowley and, in a quite
special way, to A. C. Welch, Visions of the End (1922, reprint 1958), a
book distinguished by a rare spiritual insight.
The writer has deliberately refrained from including a sketch of
the relevant history or any detailed account of the struggle between
7
8 PREFACE
Hebraism and Hellenism. Modern histories of Israel like those of
M. Noth (2nd English edition, 1960) and John Bright (1960) should
be consulted and, of course, the magnificent volumes by E. R. Bevan:
The House of Seleucus, 2 vols., 1902 and his stimulating sketch, Jeru
salem under the High Priests, 1904-. For the subject of apocalyptic
English readers have H. H. Rowley, The Relevance of Apocalyptic (New
and revised edition, 1963), S. B. Frost, Old Testament Apocalyptic, 1952,
and D. S. Russell, The Message and Method ofJ ewish Apocalyptic, 1964,
and the older works of R. H. Charles, while those who read German
have a mine of information in P. Volz, Die Eschatologie der jiidischen
Gemeinde, 1934. Those who are interested in the problems connected
with the seventy weeks of years will now find a brilliant discussion
by G. R. Driver, 'Sacred Numbers and Round Figures' in the
volume of Essays presented to Professor S. H. Hooke, Promise and
Fulfilment, 1963, pp. 62-g0.
NORMAN W. PORTEOUS
Edinburgh, June 1964
ABBREVIATIONS
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts 2, 1955
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
BZAW Beihefte zur ZA W
Camb. B. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Cent. B. Century Bible
EB EXJ>ositor's Bible
HAT Handkommentar zum Alten Testament
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
IB InterJ>reter's Bible
ICC International Critical Commentary
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
KHAT Kurzer Handkommentar zum Alten Testament
ThR Theologische Rundschau
ThSK Theologische Studien und Kritiken
ThZ Theologische Zeitsckrift (Basel)
TLZ Theologische Literaturz;eitung
VT Vetus Testamentum
ZAW Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
BIBLIOGRAPHY
COMMENTARIES
A. A. Bevan, 1892; G. Behrmann (HAT), 1894; F. W. Farrar (EB),
1895;]. D. Prince, 1899; S. R. Driver (Camb. B.), 1900; K. Marti
(KHAT), 1901; W. Baumgartner, 1926;J. A. Montgomery (ICC),
1927; R. H. Charles, 1929 (and Cent. B.); A. Bentzen (Handbuch
zumAT), 1952; E. W. Heaton (Torch Comm.), 1956; A.Jeffery
(IB), 1956; J. Barr in Peake's Commentary on the Bible, 1962
OTHER LITERATURE
W. Baumgartner, 'Ein Vierte1jahrhundert Danielforschung', ThR II,
1939, pp. 59-83, 125-44, 201-28; 'Zu den vier Reichen von
Daniel 2', ThZ 1945, pp. 17-22
A. Bentzen, Messias-Moses redivivus-Menschensohn, 1948 (Engl. transl.:
King and Messiah, 1955); Introduction to the Old Testament2, 1952
E. R. Bevan, The House of Seleucus, I vols., 1902; A History of Egypt
under the Ptolemaic Dynasry, 1927; Jerusalem under the High Priests,
1904
E. Bickermann, Der Gott der Makkabiier, 1937
W. Bousset-H. Gressmann, Die Religion des Judentums im Spiithelleni
stischen Zeitalter, 1926
M. Burrows, More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1958
F. L. Cross, The Ancient Library of Q.umran and Modern Bihlical Studies,
1958
R. P. Dougherty, Nabonidus and Belsha~~ar, 1929
S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, 91913
O. Eissfe1dt, Einleitung in das Alte Testament2, 1956; 31964 (Engl.
trans!': Introduction to the Old Testament, 1965); 'Die Menetekel
Inschrift und ihre Deutung', ZAW 63, 1951, pp. 105-14
J. A. Emerton, 'The Origin of the Son of Man Imagery', JTS New
Series IX/2, 1958, pp. 225-42
D. N. Freedman, 'The Prayer ofNabonidus', BASOR 145, Feb. 1957,
Pp·31-32
S. B. Frost, Old Testament Apocalyptic, 1952
A. von Gall, BAEIAEIA TOr BEor, 1926
II