the celebration or record of some deliverance. God's persecuted
people are rescued from mortal danger. In the first and third cases they
suffer at the hands of idolaters; in the second, of Jewish
co-religionists. In each case they provide us with a scene from
Israelitish life "in a strange land." They are tales of the Babylonian
Captivity.
In each story the ministry of angels, giving aid against visible foes,
takes a prominent place; though in Susanna these appearances are
suppressed in Theodotion's version, an angel, however, being just
mentioned in Daniel's sentences of condemnation. In each case too there
is distinct progress under God's guiding hand; things are left much
better at the end than at the beginning. There is a tone of confidence,
bred of sure conviction, in one abundantly expressed, in the others
latent, as to the ultimate triumph of right. They agree in the certainty
of God's defence, and shew complete reliance on Him. The Captivity had
done a purifying work.
These stories of rescue from oppressors would be specially acceptable
to the Jews of the Babylonian Captivity; more so probably than to the
Jews of the Dispersion elsewhere.
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