Another religious feature shews itself in v. 28, viz. the scorn in which
the Babylonian zealots held the Jewish religion. It would evidently have
been regarded as a degradation for the king to become a Jew, and social
would probably here combine with religious grounds in giving force to
this feeling. Compare Pilate's contempt of such an idea with regard to
himself, as expressed in St. John xviii. 35. Grotius proposed a
translation which inverted the phrase in such a way as to make it apply
to Daniel: "A Jew has become king." This, however, is not natural in the
Greek, has no countenance lent to it by the Aramaic text, and is clearly
opposed by the Syriac marginal title as given in Swete's manual LXX,
"tit. adpinx. ut vid. ???µ???? ?„???… ???±?????»?µ?‰?‚ ?»?µ?????…???? ?‰?‚ ???µ???????µ?? ?™???…???±?????‚,
Syr'mg*." Cajetanus Bugati also (_Daniel_, Milan, 1788, p. 162) thinks
Grotius wrong.[73] For a similarly imagined instance of a king embracing
Judaism, _cf._ II. Macc. ix. 17, headed by A.V., "Antiochus promiseth to
become a Jew," on which Rawlinson notes, "it is extremely improbable
that Epiphanes ever expressed any such intention," an opinion in which
most will agree.
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