in the N. T. (Rom. vii. 24; 2 Cor. i. 10; 2 Tim. iii. 11, &c.).

59. which the owner shall have use of] The reading xphoerai (Alex.) has probably been substituted for the less usual kexpηgerai (Vat.), and a feeble tautology thus introduced into the passage. As xpnoea is, apparently, never found with ἐπί and a dative, ἐφ ̓ ᾧ also was changed in some MSS. into ἐν ᾧ, ἐφ' ὅ, ὅ, or ᾧ, which last form is represented in the Authorized Version.

แ

Neither of the changes is required. That κεχρήσεται means shall need,” rather than "shall use," is probable from the use of keXpnuevos in this sense (Homer, Od.' i. 13, xiv. 155; Soph. 'Phil.' 1264, &c.). If we then understand e' in the usual sense of purpose, the meaning of the passage is clear: "a vessel useful for the purpose for which the owner shall have need of it." The Latin Version (gloriabitur) represents a reading καυχήσεται, and so confirms the form κεχρή

σεται.

61. The Vatican text of this verse has rò δ ̓ αὐτὸ καὶ πνεῦμα κ. τ. λ. The Alexandrine, which omits kai, may be rendered, as in the margin, "and the same wind bloweth in every country." In support of this rendering, Fritzsche refers to The Song of the Three Children, v. 43: “O all ye winds, bless ye the Lord." But the sense thus obtained, that wind is everywhere the same, the work of the same Creator, is less appropriate to our passage than that of the Vatican text-that as the other elements of nature all

are useful, so the wind also is everywhere active.

This construction leaves veuμa without an article, as ήλιος, σελήνη, ἄστρα, ἀστραπή, which go before, and vedeλaus which follows, all are. Compare for this omission of the article the passage cited by Bishop Middleton, ch. vi. § 2, from Plato, Cratylus,' 408 F: ἡλίου τε καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων καὶ γῆς καὶ αιθέρος καὶ ἀέρος καὶ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ὡρῶν καὶ ἐνιαυτοῦ;—and the earlier passage, 397 D: φαίνονταί μοι οἱ πρῶτοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τούτους μόνους που θεοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι, οὔσπερ νῦν πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄστρα καὶ οὐ pavóv.

For the quasi-adverbial use of rò auró, compare Philipp. ii. 18.

70. ἐν σικυηράτῳ.]

Both here and in

Isa. i. 8, the MSS. vary between this form and σukunλára. Fritzsche prefers the latter on two grounds:

(1) That it is better supported by MSS. in other authors, as Hippocrates, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Cyril of Alexandria. Basil quotes from Isaiah ἐν σικυηράτῳ, but himself writes σivýλarov immediately after.

(2) Fritzsche finds no satisfactory etymology for σikunparov, but compares σKvýλATOV with χαλκήλατος, χρυσήλατος.

Lobeck (Phrynichus,' p. 86) speaks of σikunλarov as a faulty reading in some editions of the Bible. The combined authority of the Vat. and Alex. Codd. in favour of σiкvýρaтov in both passages must outweigh the testimony of the Cursives.

T1

HE numerous Talmudic and Midrashic references to the story of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah make it probable that at one time Jewish tradition had more to tell about the three martyrs than is now read in Dan. iii. A story of this kind would naturally be a popular favourite, and as such would be peculiarly liable to amplification and embellishment. Hence it is not surprising to find that the Greek versions of Daniel, followed by the Syriac, Latin, and Arabic, have interpolated at chap. iii. 23 a Prayer which Azarias utters in the name of the Three, and a Canticle which they are supposed to have chanted together in the midst of the flaming furnace.1

Independently of the Story of the Three Children, it appears from Jer. xxix. 22 sq., that burning alive was, as a matter of historical fact, a Babylonian mode of execution; and we have an older notice in the records of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, who thus revenged himself on his rebellious brother Šamaš-šumucin, viceroy of Babylon (circ. 648 B.C.).2 Firdausi tells a story which shews that Persian tradition also had its martyr

This Prayer and Canticle are also read as Nos. viii.-x. among the hymns appended to the Ethiopic Psalter, where they are properly arranged, as poetical pieces, according to the rhythm.

2 See the Introd. to the Prayer of Manasses.

Apoc.-Vol. II.

hero who came unhurt out of a fiery furnace (Malcolm's 'Persia,' i. 29, 30). The passage about the Two Wicked Prophets, quoted from the Midrash Tanhumâ in the Introd. to Susanna, makes Nebuchadnezzar refer to the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and curiously relates that whereas Ahab and Zedekiah perished in the flames, their holy companion, Joshua, the High Priest, came forth without other harm than the singeing of his garments. In such legends it is possible to see a literal application of scriptural passages like Ps. lxvi. 12, "We went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us out;" Zech. iii. 2, "Is not this man [i.e. Joshua, the High Priest] a brand plucked out of the fire?" "When thou walkest and Isa. xliii. 2, through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." From texts such as these, the Haggadic expositors might easily develop stories illustrating their apparent meaning. The case is precisely analogous to that of Bel and the Dragon, and the Story of Susanna.

In the Midrash we find, besides, the following references to the Story of the Three Children. In Wayyiqra Rabba (Parash. xxxiii., cap. xxv. 1),1 Nebuchadnezzar remonstrates with them thus: "Did not idolatry originate among you? Is it not written, And their graven images from Jerusalem and Samaria' [a misrendering of Isa. x. 10]? And come ye now to make nought of my god? When ye were in your own land, ye sent to us, and procured claws, hair, and bones of idols, and drew them, in

Apud Dr. Aug. Wünsche's 'Bibliotheca Rabbinica.'

X

order to fulfil that which is written (Ezek. xxiii. 14), 'the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion;' and come ye now to make my idol image nought?" R. Jehudah bar R. Simon makes the king remonstrate in like manner, on the ground of Ezek. xvi. 25; xxiii. 42, 43 (with a ref. to Jer. li. 44). "R. Samuel bar Nachmani said: Nebuchadnezzar said unto them: 'Your idol image was of silver and gold, as it is said (citing Hos. viii. 4); but my idol image is wholly of the purest gold, as it is said (Dan. iii. 1); and come ye now to make mine idol nought? Did not Moses write for you in the Law (Deut. iv. 28), There ye shall serve gods the work of men's hands?' They answered: 'My lord, O king, to bow before does not mean to worship, but to be subject to them in the way of forced labours, subsidies, polltaxes, and fines.' Our Rabbis have taught: Nebuchadnezzar said unto them, Did not Jeremiah write for you (xxvii. 8), 'The nation and kingdom that will not serve N. the king of Babylon,' &c." Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gave the same explanation as before, adding, with reference to the command to worship the image, "Thou art; bark (n=12) like a dog, swell thyself out like a water-jar (15), and chirp like a cricket' (). Straightway he barked like a dog, swelled himself out like a water-jar, and chirped like a cricket" (a reference to Nebuchadnezzar's madness). In the Talmud Bab. Abodah Zarah 3 A, it is said that the heathen will attest before Messiah's tribunal that Israel has kept the whole Law. Nimrod will declare that Abraham chose to be cast into his fiery furnace rather than worship his idols. Nebuchadnezzar will witness in favour of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Sanhedrin, 93 A (referred to in the Introd. to Susanna), makes Nebuchadnezzar reply to his daughter thus concerning the proposals of the Two Wicked Prophets "The god of these men hateth lust (n); when they come unto thee, send them unto me. When they came unto her, she sent them unto her father. He said unto them, Who told you? They said, The Holy One (blessed be He!). [He said :] Behold Hananiah,

Mishael, and Azariah, I have asked them, and they have told me it is forbidden (DN). They said unto him, We too are prophets like them. He (God) spake not unto them; unto us He hath spoken. He said unto them, I desire to prove you as I proved Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They said unto him, They were three, and we are two. He said unto them, Choose you whom ye desire along with you. They said, Joshua, the High Priest. They thought, Let Joshua come; for his merit is great, and will shield us.” The result was that they were burnt, and Joshua's garments singed (Zech. iii. 1, 2). “He (Nebuchadnezzar) said unto him, I know that thou art righteous; but what is the reason that the fire gained a slight advantage over thee, and none at all over Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah? He said to him, They were three, and I (am only) one. He said to him, And behold Abraham was alone there, and there were no wicked men with him, and yet leave was not given to the fire (to burn him)." "Here there were wicked men with me, and leave was given to the fire. This is what they say, Two dry sticks (18, torres) and one green one. The dry ones kindle the green one."

Taanith, 18 B, also alludes to the miracle of the deliverance of the Three. Pesachim, 118 A, has the following: "Hizkiah said [with reference to the text "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us "]= It implies a descent of the righteous into the furnace of fire, and an ascent therefrom: a descent, as it is written: Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. Hananiah said, But unto thy Name give the praise. Mishael said, For thy loving-kindness and for thy truth's sake. Azariah said, Wherefore should the heathen say? They all said, on coming up from the furnace of fire, that which is written: Praise the Lord, all ye heathen. Hananiah said: Laud him, all ye peoples. Mishael said: For his loving-kindness is mighty upon us. Azariah said: And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever; praise ye Jah."

"In the hour when Nimrod the wicked threw Abraham our father into the midst of the furnace of fire, quoth Gabriel

before the Holy One (blessed be He!): Lord of the World, I will go down, and cool, and deliver the righteous one out of the furnace of fire. The Holy One (blessed be He!) said unto him: I am alone in my world, and he is alone in his world it becometh the Only One to deliver the only one. And as the Holy One (blessed be He!) doth not cut off the reward of any creature, He said: Thou shalt prevail, and thou shalt deliver three of his sons' sons.1 R. Samuel the Shilonite discoursed thus: In the hour when Nebuchadnezzar the wicked threw Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the midst of the furnace of fire, Yôrqemî, the Prince of Hail, stood before the Holy One (blessed be He!). Said he before Him: Lord of the World, Let me go down and cool the furnace, and deliver these righteous ones out of the furnace of fire. Quoth Gabriel unto him: The Omnipotence of the Holy One (blessed be He!) is not (involved) in this, that thou the prince of the hail (cool the flames), when all men know that waters (naturally) quench fire; but I, the Prince of Fire, will go down and make it cool within (DDD) and hot without, and thus work a miracle within a miracle. The Holy One (blessed be He!) said unto him, Go down. In the self-same hour Gabriel opened his mouth and said: And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever." Cf. also Pesach., 94 A.

The above passages not only illustrate the tendency to put appropriate thanksgivings into the mouth of the Three Martyrs, which we find exemplified at length in our Apocryphon: they also shew that the conception of a deliverance from a fiery furnace was traditional among the Jews, in all probability from very ancient times. And we have to bear in mind a fact familiar enough to students of the Talmudic and Midrashic literature, though apparently unknown to many expositors of Scripture, whose minds conspicuously lack that orientation which is an indispensable preliminary to a right understanding of the treasures of Eastern thought; I mean, the inveterate tendency of Jewish teachers to convey their doctrine not in the form of abstract discourse, but in a 1I.e. the Three Holy Children.

mode appealing directly to the imagination, and seeking to rouse the interest and sympathy of the man rather than the philosopher. The Rabbi embodies his lesson in a story, whether parable or allegory or seeming historical narrative; and the last thing he or his disciples would think of is to ask whether the selected persons, events, and circumstances which so vividly suggest the doctrine are in themselves real or fictitious. The doctrine is everything; the mode of presentation has no independent value. To make the story the first consideration, and the doctrine it was intended to convey an afterthought, as we, with our dry Western literalness, are predisposed to do, is to reverse the Jewish order of thinking, and to do unconscious injustice to the authors of many edifying narratives of antiquity.

The composer of the Song of the Three Children has drawn largely upon the Psalter, and the Prayer of Azarias follows scriptural models. Although the Greek text as Greek reads rather baldly, we cannot agree with Fritzsche that "the accumulated doxologies" of the Song are an artistic defect; nor do we think the separate enumeration of the manifold powers of creation "frigid." The monotony of form is itself effective. It is like the monotony of the winds or the waves; and powerfully suggests to the imagination the amplitude and splendour of God's world, and the sublimity of the universal chorus of praise. The instinct of the Church, which early adopted the Benedicite for liturgical use, was right.

The supposition that the Prayer and the Hymn are due to different authors rests upon a false contrast between vv. 15 and 31, 62. It is true that the former passage presupposes the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of sacrifice, but the latter does not contradict this, for "the temple of thine holy glory" is the celestial temple or palace (see note ad loc. and Isa. vi. 1); and the language of v. 62, "O ye priests of the Lord," &c., is accounted for either by the consideration that there were priests among the exiles, or by the fact that the verse is taken bodily from Ps. cxxxiv. 1, and the author's view is ideal. Fritzsche thinks