There is also
Origen's statement bearing upon this matter (_ad Afric._, see _Speaker's
Comm._ 327b), as to the prospect of becoming Messiah's mother, which
the Elders held out to Susanna. St. Jerome, at the end of his
_Commentary on Jeremiah_, has a slightly different version of their
outrageous pretences.
Standing on surer ground than such speculations the theology of the
piece itself is sound and proper.
CHRONOLOGY.
The period in which this trial befel Susanna is plainly that of the
Babylonian Captivity, after the Jews were well settled in their
conqueror's land, but not very long after.
The time covered by the narrative itself is obviously a very short one,
probably only a few days at the outside.
If the suggestion in Julius Africanus' letter to Origen is correct,
Joacim, Susanna's husband, was none other than Jehoiachin, the captive
king of Judah. But Africanus is not by any means confident of this; nor
does Hippolytus so identify them,[49] but contents himself with
commenting on the statement of the text (v.
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