Article September 8, 1934 Issue

Bible Notes

"Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel" (Dan. 1:11)—It is evident that the King James' translators took the word "Melzar" to be the name of a man; but it is now generally supposed to denote "governor," though there still remains some doubt as to the a of the status of the official referred to (see Brown, Driver, Briggs; Hebrew Lexicon, p. 576). The Revised Version suggests "the steward," while Moffatt translates; "Daniel said to his guardian, whom the governor of the eunuchs had put in charge of Daniel." Smith's rendering is: "The steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had placed over Daniel."

"Prove thy servants ... ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat" (Dan. 1:12)—The word "zero'im," here rendered "pulse," is more exactly "vegetables" (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 283), while the verb translated "prove" has the primary sense of "test or try" (ibid., p. 650). Thus Smith reads: "Pray, test your servants for ten days, letting us have vegetables to eat."

"Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebr. 11:3)—It may be noted that the verb rendered "see" often means "to discern mentally, or to understand" in addition to its usual reference to physical sight (cf. Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 103). The Greek term translated "Things which do appear" is practically identical in form with our English word "phenomena," and, like it, refers to things perceived by the senses (Meyer: Hebrews, p. 398), the objects of experience (Webster's Dictionary). In the original the negative may be taken either with "made" (as in our Common Version) or with "things which do appear." In the latter case, the sense would be that "things which are seen were made of things not perceived by the senses;" hence Moffatt's rendering: "The visible was made out of the invisible." Goodspead has: "The world we see did not simply arise out of matter;" while Weymouth translates as follows: "What is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible."

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