[7] The account in chap. ii. of the promotion of Daniel to be governor of Babylon, as a reward for his correct interpretation of Nebuchadrezzar’s dream, is very probably an imitation of the story of Joseph in Gen. xl-xli. The points of resemblance are very striking. In both accounts, we have a young Hebrew raised by the favour of a heathen king to great political prominence, owing to his extraordinary God-given ability to interpret dreams. In both versions, the heathen astrologers make the first attempt to solve the difficulty, which results in failure, whereupon the pious Israelite, being summoned to the royal presence, in both cases through the friendly intervention of a court official, triumphantly explains the mystery to the king’s satisfaction (cf. Prince, Dan. p. 29).
[8] See Bevan, Dan. 28-40, on the Hebrew and Aramaic of Daniel.
[9] According to Lagarde, Mitteilungen, iv. 351 (1891); also Gött, Gelehrte Anzeigen (1891), 497-520.
[10] The latest connected Babylonian inscription is that of Antiochus Soter (280-260 B.C.), but the language was probably spoken until Hellenic times; cf. Gutbrod, Zeitschr. für Assyriol. vi. 27.
[11] Prince, Dan. 12.
[12] Bertholdt, Dan. 15; Franz Delitzsch, in Herzog, Realencyklopädie, 2nd ed., iii. 470.
[13] Bevan, Dan. 27 ff.; Prince, Dan. 13.
[14] For this whole discussion, see Prince, Dan. 15 ff.
[15] The investigations of Haug, Spiegel and Windischmann show that this was a real Zoroastrian doctrine.
[16] Prince, Dan. 35-42.