28 



REV. AXDREAV CRAIG ROBIXSOX, M.A., OX DARIUS 



The narrative in the sixth chapter of Daniel would surely 

 require that he whom the presidents and princes approached 

 with their flattering and insidious request, should be, not a mere 

 lieutenant like Gobrvas, but a real king — invested with that 

 di\dnity which — in those days w^as held to be inherent in a 

 king. The narrative seems also to require that the king in 

 question should have that absolute and independent power 

 which the Cyaxares of Xenophon would have in the kingdom of 

 Media. 



The sixth chapter ends with the verse — 



" So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in 

 the reign of Cyrus the Persian." 



It is to be noted, however, that the Hebrew word malkuih 

 which is here translated reign " is translated in other places 

 realm." For example — 



" So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet (2 Chron. xx, 30). 

 " Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king 

 and his sons ? " (Ezra 23). 



In the Book of Daniel — in addition to the passage just quoted — 

 the Hebrew word malkutli is translated " reign " in four instances, 

 ^^z. : — " In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim " (Dan. i, 1). 

 ''And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar" 

 (Dan. ii, 1). ''In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar " 

 (Dan. viii, 1). "In the first year of his reign " (Dan. ix, 1). 



In each of these cases the meaning of the word is fixed as 

 " reign " because the number of a regnal year is mentioned. 



In the following four passages, on the other hand, the word 

 malMth is translated " realm " : — 



(Dan. i, 20) " astrologers that were in all his ' realm.' " 

 (Dan. \d, 3) " thought to set him over the whole ' realm.' '^ 

 (Dan. ix, 1) "king over the 'realm' of the Chaldeans.'* 

 (Dan. xi, 2) " stir up all against the ' realm ' of Grecia." 



These (with vi, 28) are all the passages in Daniel in which the 

 word malJcuth is translated " reign " or " realm." It will be 

 seen that in the first four passages the word could not (to make 

 sense) be translated " realm," and in the four last it could not be 

 translated " reign." 



