xx. 6--in Israel, and for adultery and lies, which were regarded as

treasonable. In some traditions they are identified with the two elders of the Story of Susanna. Assur-bani-pal burnt Samas-sum-ucin, his brother, who was Viceroy of Babylon (about B.C. 648), and Te-Umman, who cursed his gods (Smith, _Assur-bani-pal_, p. 138). Comp. Ewald, _Prophets_, iii. 240. See _supra_, p. 44.

[328] Malcolm, _Persia_, i. 29, 30.

[329] Both in Theodotion and the LXX. we have ἔτους ὀκτωκαιδεκάτου. The siege of Jerusalem was not, however, finished till the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar (2 Kings xxv. 8). Others conjecture that the scene occurred in his thirty-first year, when he was "at rest in his house, and flourishing in his palace" (Dan. iv. 4).

[330] _Records of the Past_, v. 113. The inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar are full of glorification of Marduk (Merodach), _id._, v. 115, 135, vii. 75.

[331] Comp. Isa. xliv. 9-20. Mr. Hormuzd Rassan discovered a colossal statue of Nebo at Nimroud in 1853. Shalmanezer III. says on his obelisk, "I made an image of my royalty; upon it I inscribed the praise of Asshur my master, and a true account of my exploits." Herodotus (i. 183) mentions a statue of Zeus in Babylon, on which was spent eight hundred talents of gold, and of another made of "solid gold" twelve ells high.

[332] By the apologists the "image" or "statue" is easily toned down into a bust on a hollow pedestal (Archdeacon Rose, _Speaker's Commentary_, p. 270). The colossus of Nero is said to have been a hundred and ten feet high, but was of marble. Nestle (_Marginalia_, 35) quotes a passage from Ammianus Marcellinus, which mentions a colossal statue of Apollo reared by Antiochus Epiphanes, to which there may be a side-allusion here.

[333] Schrader, p. 430: Dur-Yagina, Dur-Sargina, etc. LXX., ἐν πεδίῳ τοῦ περιβόλου χώρας Βαβυλωνίας.

[334] LXX. and Vulg., _satrapæ_. Comp. Ezra viii. 36; Esther iii. 12. Supposed to be the Persian _Khshatra-pāwan_ (Bevan, p. 79).

[335] _Signî_, Babylonian word (Schrader, p. 411).

[336] LXX., τοπάρχαι. Comp. _Pechah_, Ezra v. 14. An Assyrian word (Schrader, p. 577).

[337] LXX., ἡγούμενοι. Perhaps the Persian _endarzgar_, or "counsellor."

[338] LXX., διοικηταί. Comp. Ezra vii. 21; but Grätz thinks there is a mere scribe's mistake for the _gadbarî_ of vv. 24 and 27.

[339] This word is perhaps the old Persian _dàtabard_.

[340] The word is found here alone. Perhaps "advisers." On these words see Bevan, p. 79; _Speaker's Commentary_, pp. 278, 279; Sayce, _Assyr. Gr._, p. 110.

[341] Ewald, _Prophets_, v. 209; _Hist._, v. 294.

[342] The word has often been compared with the Greek κήρυξ, but the root is freely found in Assyrian inscriptions (_Karaz_, "an edict").

[343] Comp. Rev. xviii. 2, ἔκραξεν ἐν ἰσχύϊ.

[344] See _supra_, p. 22. The _qar'na_ (horn, κέρας) and _sab'ka_ (σαμβύκη) are in root both Greek and Aramean. The "pipe" (_mash'rôkîtha_) is Semitic. Brandig tries to prove that even in Nebuchadrezzar's time these three Greek names (even the _symphonia_) had been borrowed by the Babylonians from the Greeks; but the combined weight of philological authority is against him.

[345] See _Hibbert Lectures_, chap. lxxxix., etc.

[346] Comp. vi. 13, 14.

[347] _Akaloo Qar'tsîhîn._

[348] It is "found in the Targum rendering of Lev. xix. 16 for a talebearer, and is frequent as a Syriac and Arabic idiom" (Fuller).

[349] Jerome emphasises the element of jealousy, "Quos prætulisti nobis et _captivos ac servos principes fecisti_, ii _elati in superbiam_ tua præcepta contemnunt."

[350] The phrase is unique and of uncertain meaning.

[351] Exod. v. 2; Isa. xxxvi. 20; 2 Chron. xxxii. 13-17.

[352] Dan. iii. 16. LXX., οὐ χρείαν ἔχομεν; Vulg., _non oportet nos_. To soften the brusqueness of the address, in which the Rabbis (_e.g._, Rashi) rejoice, the LXX. add another Βασιλεῦ.

[353] Jerome explains "But if not" by _Quodsi noluerit_; and Theodoret by εἴτε οὖν ῥύεται εἴτε καὶ μή.

[354] iii. 18. LXX., καὶ τότε φανερόν σοι ἔσται. Tert., from the Vet. Itala, "tunc manifestum erit tibi" (_Scorp._, 8).

[355] Comp. Gen. xix. 22: "_I cannot do anything_ until thou be come thither."

[356] Cremation prevailed among the Accadians, and was adopted by the Babylonians (G. Bertin, _Bab. and Orient. Records_, i. 17-21). Fire was regarded as the great purifier. In the Catacombs the scene of the Three Children in the fire is common. They are painted walking in a sort of open cistern full of flames, with doors beneath. The Greek word is κάμινος (Matt. xiii. 42), "a calcining furnace."

[357] It seems very needless to introduce here, as Mr. Deane does in Bishop Ellicott's commentary, the notion of the seven _Maskîm_ or demons of Babylonian mythology. In the Song of the Three Children the flames stream out forty-nine (7 × 7) cubits. Comp. Isa. xxx. 26.

[358] The meaning of these articles of dress is only conjectural: they are--(1) _Sarbālîn_, perhaps "trousers," LXX. σαραβάροι, Vulg. _braccæ_; (2) _Patîsh_, LXX. τιάραι, Vulg. _tiaræ_; (3) _Kar'bla_, LXX. περικνημῖδες, Vulg. _calceamenta_. It is useless to repeat all the guesses. _Sarbala_ is a "tunic" in the Talmud, Arab. _sirbal_; and some connect _Patîsh_ with the Greek πέτασος. Judging from Assyrian and Babylonian dress as represented on the monuments, the youths were probably clad in turbans (the Median καυνάκη), an inner tunic (the Median κάνδυς), an outer mantle, and some sort of leggings (_anaxurides_). It is interesting to compare with the passage the chapter of Herodotus (i. 190) about the Babylonian dress. He says they wore a linen tunic reaching to the feet, a woollen over-tunic, a white shawl, and slippers. It was said to be borrowed from the dress of Semiramis.

[359] Chald., _haddab'rîn_; LXX., οἱ φίλοι τοῦ βασιλέως.

[360] The A.V., "like the Son of God," is quite untenable. The expression may mean a heavenly or an angelic being (Gen. vi. 2; Job i. 6). So ordinary an expression does not need to be superfluously illustrated by references to the Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, but they may be found in Sayce, _Hibbert Lectures_, 128 and _passim_.

[361] LXX., ὁ Θεὸς τῶν θεῶν, ὁ ὕψιστος. Comp. 2 Macc. iii. 31; Mark v. 7; Luke viii. 28; Acts xvi. 17, from which it will be seen that it was not a Jewish expression, though it often occurs in the Book of Enoch (Dillmann, p. 98).

[362] So in Persian history the Prince Siawash clears himself from a false accusation in the reign of his father Kai Kaoos by passing through the fire (Malcolm, _Hist. of Persia_, i. 38).

[363] Comp. Psalm xvi. 12: "We went through fire and water, and Thou broughtest us out into a safe place."

[364] Comp. Gen. xxiv. 7; Exod. xxiii. 20; Deut. xxxvi. 1. The phrase applied to Joshua the high priest (Zech. iii. 2), "Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning?" originated the legend that, when the false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah had been burnt by Nebuchadrezzar (Jer. xxix. 22), Joshua had been saved, though singed. This and other apocryphal stories illustrate the evolution of _Haggadoth_ out of metaphoric allusions.

[365] πνεῦμα νότιον διασύριζον, "a dewy wind, whistling continually."

[366] Song of the Three Children, 23-27.

[367] _Vay. Rab._, xxv. 1 (Wünsche, _Bibliotheca Rabbinica_).

[368] Ecclus. xviii. 16: "Shall not the dew assuage the heat?"

[369] _Speaker's Commentary_, on the Apocrypha, ii. 305-307.

[370] Jos., _Antt._, XII. iii. 3; Jahn, _Hebr. Commonwealth_, § xc.