John Gill Commentary Daniel 1

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah
At the close of it, and at the beginning of the fourth, which was the first of Nebuchadnezzar, (Jeremiah 25:1) . Jerusalem seems to have been taken twice in his time, and two captivities in it: the first was in the third or fourth year of his reign; when humbling himself, he was restored to his kingdom, though he became a tributary to the king of Babylon; Daniel and his companions, who were carried captive with him, were retained as hostages; but after three years he rebelled, but it was not until his eleventh year that Nebuchadnezzar came against him again, took him, and bound him, in order to carry him to Babylon, but he died by the way; see (2 Kings 24:1 2 Kings 24:2) (2 Chronicles 36:5 2 Chronicles 36:6)

Some, as Jarchi and Saadiah Gaon, make this the third year of his rebellion, and the last of his reign; they suppose that he was conquered by the king of Babylon, and became subject to him in the fifth year of his reign; that he served him three years and rebelled against him for three years: at the end of which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it ;

with his army, and took it; and it is accounted for the same way in the Jewish chronicle ^F16 according to Bishop Usher ^F17 , this was in the year of the world 3398 A.M., and before Christ 607 or 606; according to Mr. Bedford ^F18 , 605.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 25. in principio.
• F17: Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3398.
• F18: Scripture Chronology, p. 676.

The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand
And the city of Jerusalem too, or he could not have taken the king, and so the Syriac version renders it,and the Lord delivered it into his hands, and Jehoiakim: this was from the Lord, because of his sins, and the sins of his ancestors, and of his people; or otherwisethe king of Babylon could not have taken the city, nor him, because of the great power of the Jews, asJacchiades observes:

with part of the vessels of the house of God ;not all of them; for some, as Saadliah says, were hid by Josiah and Jeremiah, which is not to be depended on;however, certain it is that all were not carried away, because we read of some of the vessels of the templebeing carried away afterwards, in Jeconiah's time, (2 Kings 24:13), and still there were some left, as thepillars, sea, bases, and other vessels, which were to be carried away, and were carried away by the king ofBabylon, in Zedekiah's time, (Jeremiah 27:19–22) (52:17-20):

which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his god ;which Jarchi understands both of the men that were carried captive, and the vessels that were taken out ofthe temple; but the latter seem only to be intended, since of men Jehoiakim is only spoken of before; and itdoes not appear he was ever carried into Babylon; but it is certain the vessels of the temple were carriedthither; which is meant by the land of Shinar, where Babylon stood, and where the tower of Babel was built, (Genesis 10:2), the same, as Grotius thinks, with the Singara of Pliny ^F19 and Ptolemy^F20 .

So the Targum of Onkelos, on (Genesis 10:10–12), interprets the land of Shinar the landof Babylon; likewise the Jerusalem Targum on (Genesis 10:10), and the Targum of Jonathan on (Genesis 11:2) (Isaiah 11:11) (Zechariah 5:11), only on (Genesis 10:10), he paraphrases it the land of Pontus. SoHestiaeus ^F21 an ancient Phoenician writer, calls Shinar Sennaar of Babylonia.

It seems to have its name from (ren), which signifies to "shake out"; because from here themen of the flood, as Saadiah says, or the builders of Babel, were shook out by the Lord, and were scatteredover the face of the earth. And as the tower of Babel itself, very probably, was built for idolatrousworship, for which reason the Lord was so displeased with the builders of it; so in this same place, or nearit, now stood an idol's temple, where the king of Babylon, and the inhabitants thereof, worshipped, herecalled "the house of his gods" ^F23, as it may be rendered; for the Babylonians worshipped more gods than one;there were Rach, Shach and Nego, from whom Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are supposed to have their namesgiven them by the Chaldeans, (Daniel 1:7).

Rach is thought to be the sun, whose priests were calledRachiophantae, observers of the sun; Shach, to which Sheshach is referred by some, (Jeremiah 51:41), forwhich a feast was kept once a year for five days, when servants had the rule and government of their masters;and Nego either was worshipped for the sun, or some star, so called from its brightness. Venus was also hadin veneration with the Babylonians, whom they called Mylitta; in whose temple many acts of uncleanness andfilthiness were committed, as Herodotus ^F24 relates.

And, besides these, there were Merodach, Nebo, and Bel; of which see (Isaiah 46:1) (Jeremiah 50:2), the latter seems to have been their chiefdeity, and who was called Jupiter Belus; and with whom were the goddesses Juno and Rhea. And in the city ofBabylon stood the temple of Bel, or Jupiter Belus, which was extant in the times of Herodotus, and of whichhe gives an account ^F25 , and is this:

``the temple of Jupiter Belus had gates of brass; it was four hundred and forty yards on every side, and was foursquare. In the midst of the temple was a solid tower, two hundred and twenty yards in length and breadth; upon which another temple was placed, and so on to eight. The going up them was without, in a winding about each tower; as you went up, in the middle, there was a room, and seats to rest on. In the last tower was a large temple, in which was a large bed splendidly furnished, and a table of gold set by it; but there was no statue there; nor did any man lie there in the night; only one woman, a native of the place, whom the god chose from among them all, as the Chaldean priests of this deity say.''

Diodorus Siculus says ^F26 it was of an extraordinary height, where the Chaldeans made observations on the stars, and could take an exact view of the rise and setting of them; it was all made of brick and bitumen, at great cost and expense. Here the vessels of the sanctuary were brought by Nebuchadnezzar, to the praise and glory of his idols, as Jarchi and Jacchiades observe; to whom he imputed the victory he had obtained over the Jews.

Even these he brought into the treasure house of his god ;very probably this was the chapel Herodotus ^F1 speaks of, where was a large golden statue ofJupiter sitting, and a large golden table by it, and a golden throne and steps, reckoned by the Chaldeans ateight hundred talents of gold.

And Diodorus Siculus ^F2 relates that there were three golden statues, of Jupiter, Juno, and Rhea. That of Jupiter was as one standing on his feet, and, as it were,walking, was forty feet in length, and weighed a thousand Babylonian talents (computed three millions and ahalf of our money). That of Rhea was of the same weight, sitting upon a throne of gold, and two lionsstanding at her knees; and near to them serpents of a prodigious size, made of silver, which weighed thirtytalents. That of Juno was a standing statue, weighing eight hundred talents; in her right hand she held thehead of a serpent, and in her left a sceptre set with precious stones; and there was a golden table, commonto them all, forty feet long, fifteen broad, and of the weight of fifty talents.

Moreover, there were two bowls of thirty talents, and as many censers of three hundred talents, and three cups of gold; that which wasdedicated to Jupiter weighed a thousand two hundred Babylonian talents, and the other six hundred. Here allthe rich things dedicated to their god were laid up, and here the king of Babylon brought the treasures andrich vessels he took out of the temple of Jerusalem; and to this agrees the testimony of Berosus^F3 , who says, that with the spoils of war Nebuchadnezzar took from the Jews and neighbouringnations, he adorned the temple of Belus.

The riches of this temple, according to historians, are supposed to be above one and twenty millions sterling ^F4 , even of those only which Diodorus Siculus gives anaccount of, as above.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 24.
• F20: Geograph. l. 5. c. 18.
• F21: Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 4. sect. 3.
• F23: (wyhla tyb) "domum deorum suorum", Cocceius, Michaelis.
• F24: Clio, sive l. 1. c. 199.
• F25: Ibid. c. 181.
• F26: Biblioth. 1. 2. p. 98. Ed. Rhodoman.
• F1: Clio, sive l. 1. c. 183.
• F2: Biblioth. I. 2. p. 98.
• F3: Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 1.
• F4: Vid. Rollin's Ancient History, vol. 2. p. 70. and Universal History, vol. 4. p. 409.

And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs ,
&c.] That is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon spoke to this officer of his, whose name was Ashpenaz; which, according to Saadiah, signifies a man of an angry countenance; but Hillerus ^F5 derives it from the Arabic word "schaphan", as designing one that excels in wit and understanding; for which reason he might have the command of the eunuchs, many of which the eastern princes had about them, particularly to wait upon their women, or to educate youth, as the Turks have now; though, as R. Jeshuah in Aben Ezra observes, the word signifies ministers, and may intend the king's nobles and courtiers, his ministers of state; and so this Ashpenaz may be considered as his prime minister, to whom he gave orders,

that he should bring certain of the children of Israel ;
whom he had taken and brought captive to Babylon, and were disposed of in some part or another of the city and country; and out of these it was his will that some should be selected and brought to his court: and of the king's seed, and of the princes :
or, "even ^F6 of the king's seed, and of the princes"; not any of the children of Israel, but such as were of the blood royal, or of the king of Judah's family, or some way related to it; or, however, that were of princely birth, the children of persons of the first rank, as the word ^F7 may signify; or of nobles and dukes, as Jarchi interprets it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Onomast. Sacr. p. 752, 753.
• F6: (hkwlmh erzmw) , so (w) is sometimes rendered; see Noldius. p. 276.
• F7: (Mymtrp) "ex Graeca voce" (prwtov) , Grotius, Junius.

Children in whom was no blemish
Not mere children, but young men of fifteen or twenty years of age; about which age Daniel is by Aben Ezra supposed to be when he was carried captive; and less than this he cannot well be thought to be, since, in a few years after, he was put into posts of the greatest eminence and importance: such were ordered to be selected that had no deformity or defect in any parts of their body, or wanted any, as an eye, or a hand; or, "in whom was not anything" ^F8 ; vicious or immoral, or scandalous in their character: but well favoured ;
of a good complexion, a ruddy countenance, and a healthful look.

So Curtius ^F9 says, that, in all barbarous or uncivilized countries, the stateliness and size of the body is had in great veneration; nor do they think any capable of great services or actions, to whom nature has not vouchsafed to give a beautiful form and aspect. And Aristotle ^F11 says it was reported, that, in Ethiopia, civil offices of government or magistracy were distributed according to the bulk or beauty of men, the largeness and tallness of their bodies, or the comeliness of them; and not only among them, but this has always been the custom of the eastern nations, to choose such for their principal officers, or to wait on princes and great personages, and continues to this day.

Sir Paul Ricaut ^F12 observes, ``that the youths that are designed for the great offices of the Turkish empire must be of admirable features and pleasing looks, well shaped in their bodies, and without any defects of nature; for it is conceived that a corrupt and sordid soul can scarce inhabit in a serene and ingenious aspect; and (says he) I have observed not only in the seraglio, but also in the courts of great men, their personal attendants have been of comely lusty youths well habited, deporting themselves with singular modesty and respect in the presence of their masters: so that when a pascha, aga, spahee, travels, he is always attended with a comely equipage, followed by flourishing youths, well clothed, and mounted in great numbers; that one may guess at the greatness of this empire by the retinue, pomp, and number of servants, which accompany persons of quality in their journeys.''

And no doubt Nebuchadnezzar had some of these ends in view, in ordering such persons to be selected and brought up at his expense; that they might be both for service and usefulness, and for his grandeur and glory. And skilful in all wisdom :
in the wisdom of the Jews, or had a liberal education according to the custom of their country; or were young men of good capacities, capable of being instructed, and of improving themselves in all kind of wisdom: and cunning in knowledge ;
or "knowing knowledge" ^F13 ; having a large share of the knowledge of their own country, customs, and laws, civil and religious: and understanding science; the liberal arts and sciences; or however were persons of a good genius, and of retentive memories; young men of capacity, diligence, industry, and application, and of great docility, and so very promising to make great and useful men: and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace ;
not only strength of body, which was requisite to a long waiting there, as sometimes they were obliged to do; but strength of mind, courage, and undauntedness, to stand before the king and his nobles, without showing a rustic fear, and timidity of mind:

and whom they might teach the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans ;
or, "the book and language of the Chaldeans" ^F14 ; book for books; such as contained their literature, history, and philosophy, mathematics, the knowledge of the stars, in which they excelled, as well as architecture and military skill; and it was necessary they should learn the Chaldean language, which differed from the Hebrew chiefly in dialect and pronunciation, that they might be able to read those books of science, and to speak with a good accent, and readily, before the king and his nobles; or rather the sense is, that they might understand the Chaldean language, the manner of reading, writing, and pronouncing it (rpo) , translated "learning", may signify the letters of the language, the Scripture or manner of writing, as Saadiah and Aben Ezra interpret it; which must be first learned in any language, in order to attain the knowledge of it; so it seems to be used in (Isaiah 19:12) . "I am not learned, or know not a book or letters" see (John 7:15) and (Nwvl) , translated "tongue", may signify the rules, idioms, and properties of the language; the nature, genius, and dialect of it, and signification of the words and phrases used in it to be learned, so as to be thorough masters of it, understand it, speak it, and pronounce it well.

But here a difficulty arises, since the form and character of the letters of the Chaldee and Hebrew languages now in use are the same; it may seem unnecessary that Hebrew youths should be put to school to learn the Chaldean letters and language, though the dialect and idioms of the two languages might in some things differ; but let it be observed, that it might be, and it is not improbable, that the letters of the Chaldean language were not the same then as they are now; and Hottinger ^F15 expressly says, that the ancient Chaldee character is not known; not to say anything of the difference of the Hebrew letters then from what they are now, which some have surmised: besides, it is a clear case that the Chaldee and Syriac languages are the same, as appears from (Daniel 2:4) , where the Chaldeans are said to speak to the king in Syriac; and yet, what follows is no other than Chaldee, their mother tongue, in which it was most proper and agreeable to speak to the king: and as it is the opinion of many learned men now that these languages are the same, so it was the sense of the ancient Jews. Says R. Samuel Bar Nachman ^F16 , let not the Syriac language be mean in your eyes, or lightly esteemed by you; for in the law, in the prophets, and in the Hagiographa, the holy blessed God has imparted honour to it; in the law, (Genesis 31:47) , in the prophets, (Jeremiah 10:11) , in the Hagiographa, (Daniel 2:4–8:1) in all which places it is the Chaldee language that is used; and that which was spoken in Babylon, the head of the Chaldean empire, is called the Syriac; for Cyrus, when he took that city, ordered a proclamation to be made, by men skilled, (suristi) , in the Syriac language, that the inhabitants should keep within doors, and that those that were found without should be slain ^F17 ; which orders were published in that language, that they might be universally understood, being the language of the common people.

So Herodotus, speaking of the Assyrians, says ^F18 , these by the Greeks are called Syrians, and by the barbarians Assyrians, among whom were the Chaldeans: and, as Strabo observes ^F19 , the same language or dialect was used by those without Euphrates, and by those within; that is, by the Syrians, strictly so called, and by the Babylonians or Chaldeans: and elsewhere ^F20 , the name of Syrians reached from Babylon to Sinus Issicus; and, formerly, from thence to the Euxine sea. Now it is certain that the form and character of the letters in the Syriac language are very different from the Hebrew, and difficult to be learned, and might be those which these Hebrew youths were to be taught at school, as well as the rudiments of it; and it is as evident that the language of the Jews, and that of the Syrians, Chaldeans, and Babylonians, were so different, that the common people of the former did not understand the language of the latter when spoke, as appears from (2 Kings 18:26) (Isaiah 36:11) so that there was an apparent necessity for the one to be taught the language of the other, in order to understand it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: (Mwam) "quidquam quod obstet", Gussetius.
• F9: Histor. l. 6. c. 5.
• F11: Politic. l. 4. c. 4. tom. 2. p. 224.
• F12: Present State of the Ottoman Empire, B. 1. c. 5. p. 13.
• F13: (ted yedyw) "et scientes scientiam, Pagninus, Montanus, intelligentes scientiam", Calvin.
• F14: (Nwvlw rpo) "librum et linguam", Jo. Henr. Michaelis.
• F15: Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 3. p. 35.
• F16: Bereshit Rabba, sect. 74. fol. 65. 4.
• F17: Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 23.
• F18: Polymnia, sive l. 7. c. 63.
• F19: Geograph. I. 2. p. 58.
• F20: Ibid. l. 16. p. 507.

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's
meat
Every day a portion was ordered them, from the king's table, of the richest dainties he himself ate of; which was done not only as an act of royal munificence and generosity, and in respect of their birth and breeding; but also as a bait and snare to allure and entice them, to make them in love with the country and condition in which they were, and to forget their own; as well also in order to preserve their well favoured look and good complexion, and fit them for their study of language and literature; which might be hindered for want of the necessaries of life, or by living on gross and coarse food:

and of the wine which he drank ;
which, as it was of various sorts, so of the best and most excellent; and which, moderately drank, conduces to the health of the body, and cheerfulness of the mind; and which are both useful to forward learned studies:

so nourishing them three years ;
this was the time fixed for their acquiring the learning and language of the Chaldeans; during which they were to be provided for from the king's table, and at his expense, as above; which term of time was judged sufficient for their learning everything necessary to qualify them for the king's service; and in which time it might be thought they would forget their own country, customs, religion, and language, and be inured to the place and persons where they were, and be satisfied and easy with their condition and circumstances:

that at the end thereof they might stand before the king ;
that is, at the end of three years they might be presented to the king for his examination and approbation, and be appointed to what service he should think fit; and particularly that they might be in his court, and minister to him in what post it should be his pleasure to place them. Some in Aben Ezra, and which he himself inclines to, read and interpret it, "that some of them might stand before the king"; such as he should choose out of them, that were most accomplished and most fit for his service; so Jacchiades.