v. ?‘?µ????, sub ?‘???·?¦?·??),
'agathodemon, omnis felicitatis auctor,' Daniel does not spare him on
that account. Thomas "Wintle[65] suggests that the image in chap. iii.
"was Bel, or some of the Assyrian deities, as we may collect from iii.
14"; and Bar-Hebr?¦us' notion that the gift of Bel to Daniel, in v. 22 of
our story, was in order that he might be rewarded by the gold with which
the image was plated, agrees well enough with iii. I (Berlin, 1888, p.
28).
The aim is to depict Daniel, distinguished for his wisdom and piety, as
the successful, though sorely tried, opponent of heathenism, and as the
representative of the Living God. His character to a great extent
resembles that pourtrayed in the rest of the work bearing his name. It
is shewn how he continued to face and to solve the difficult problems of
court life in Babylon. And albeit he secured no small measure of fame,
and perhaps of popularity, at the time, these earthly results, in their
abiding form, it has lain with posterity to give him.
On the supposition that Alexandria was the birthplace of the piece, it
has been suggested that the aim of the writer was "to warn against the
sin of idolatry some of his brethren who had embraced Egyptian
superstition.
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