e refers to
the future fulfilment of one of his prophecies as a most important sign
for his disciples: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place
(whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judea
flee into the mountains." Matt. 24:15, 16; Mark 13:14. De Wette says
indeed: "In the nature of the case Christ neither _would_ nor _could_ be
a critical authority." That our Lord did not assume to be a critical
authority in the ordinary sense of the term is evident; for in this very
case he referred to the Alexandrine version, without pausing to notice
its variation from the Hebrew. But our Lord knew whether the book of
Daniel is a collection of real prophecies, or a spurious work composed
several centuries after Daniel, imposing upon the world in Daniel's name
pretended prophecies written after the events. Far be it from any one
who believes in the reality of Christ's supernatural mission thus to
make him set the seal of his divine authority to the work of an
impostor. Heb. 11:33, 34 also refers undeniably to Daniel, chaps. 6 and
3.

(5.) The _language_ of the book agrees with the age of Daniel. The
writer employs both Hebrew and Chaldee, thus indicating that he lives
during the period of transition from the former to the latter language.
His Chaldee, moreover, like that of Ezra, contains Hebrew forms such as
do not occur in the earliest of the Targums. His Hebrew, on the other
hand, agrees in its general character with that of Ezekiel and Ezra.
Though the Hebrew survived as the language of the learned for some time
after the captivity, we cannot suppose that so late as the age of
Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees a Jewish author could have
employed either such Hebrew as Daniel uses, or such Chaldee.

(6.) The author manifests intimate acquaintance with the historical
relations, manners, and customs belonging to Daniel's time. Under this
head writers have specified the custom of giving new names to those
taken into the king's service (1:7); the threat that the houses of the
magi should be made a dunghill (2:5); the different forms of capital
punishment in use among the Chaldeans and Medo-Persians; the dress of
Daniel's companions (3:21); the presence of women at the royal banquet
(5:2), etc. See Davidson's Introduction, p. 920, who sums up the
argument thus: "It is improbable that an author in the Maccabean times
should have b