632nd OBDINARY GENERAL MEETING, 



HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, 

 WESTMINSTER, S.W., ON MONDAY, MAY 23rd, 1921, 



AT 4.30 P.M. 



Pkofessor T. G. Pinches, LL.D,, M.E.A.S., in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous meeting were read, confirmed and signed, 

 and the Hon. Secretary announced the Election of the Rev. John Wick 

 Bowman, M.A., D.D., as an Associate, 



Prof. Pinches rose to explain that, owing to the unfortunate illness 

 of Dr. St. Clair Tisdall, he had been asked to read the paper. He undertook 

 the task with considerable diffidence, owing to the very special nature of 

 the paper. 



THE BOOK OF DANIEL : SOME LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE 

 REGARDING ITS DATE. By the Rev. W. St. Clair 

 Tisdall, D.D. 



(Sophocles). 



THE question of the date of the composition of the Book of 

 Daniel, as it at present exists in the Massoretic Text of 

 the Old Testament, has long been under discussion. The 

 Higher Critics have given their verdict regarding its genuineness, 

 and they have, in their own opinion, decided its date within a 

 very few years. To mention one of their latest pronouncements, 

 the Peake Commentary on the Bible says : "No Old Testament 

 Scholar of any repute now maintains that the Book was written 

 by Daniel " (p. 323). This writer admits, however, that it is 

 referred to in the so-called Sibylline Oracles (dating from about 

 140 B.C.), the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs " (109- 

 107 B.C.), and the First Book of Maccabees {circa 100 B.C.). Not- 

 withstanding this, the Higher Critics in general have persuaded 

 themselves that the Book of Daniel was written only a few years 

 before the earliest of these works, viz., in 167-165 B.C., and yet 

 within a little over a score of years had grown famous and gained 

 credence far and wide, even among people speaking a language 



