distinguished for his eminent holiness, would suffer idolatry to be practised in his presence, more especially when he himself was the object of it, without expressing his disapprobation? To this objection, the following answer is offered. The sacred writers, studious of extreme brevity, often pass over many incidents in the scenes which they describe. Daniel, therefore, might actually reject the intended honour, although it is not mentioned in the record. This silence of the historian, will not prove that it was not done, while there are certain circumstances in the narrative which go far to prove that the prophet did reject the homage of Nebuchadnezzar. In the 28th verse of the second chapter, he solemnly declares before the king and the whole court, that "it is the God of heaven that revealeth secrets, and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days ;" and the 30th verse, "But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living." When these faithful declarations are considered, it is not to be supposed that Daniel neglected to remind the king that religious worship is due to God alone; and that such a testimony was given at the time, is intimated with considerable clearness in the confession of the king himself, verse 47th, which seems to refer to something the prophet had just said to him: "The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a Revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret." The character of Daniel, therefore, is not affected by the misconduct of his sovereign, in paying him divine honours. In the reign of Belshazzar, he received an honour of a different and less equivocal kind: "They clothed him with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom." This custom of changing the dress of a person, as a mark of honour, is still common in the east. The words of the record, although not quite decisive, seem to favour the idea that the change of dress was a part of the ceremony by which Daniel was invested with official authority, and not a distinct honour. In Hindostan, no governor or other officer, can enter upon his office, without receiving a dress of honour from his sovereign. These dresses are conferred by a superior on a person of humbler condition, when he is raised to a place of power and trust, or as a mark of esteem and approbation. custom, the Hindoos probably borrowed from the Persians; and if so, Daniel's change of dress was an established sign of his accession to the high dignity which he so well deserved. In ages long anterior to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph was invested with the office of ruler over all the land of Egypt by a similar ceremony : "Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck." The robes This * Maurice's Hist. of Hindostan, vol. iii, p. 328. Norden's Trav. part ii, p. 96, 97. Thevenot's Trav. part i, p. 85. 1 Gen. xli, 42.-Some writers contend, that the ancient Egyptians were unacquainted with the manufacture of fine linen, because the linen in which the mummies are swathed is very coarse; and by consequence, that Moses could only mean that it was comparatively fine. But the phrase "fine linen," so frequently used by the inspired writers, naturally leads to the conclusion that we must understand it in the proper sense of the terms. The justice of this remark is placed beyond a doubt by the declaration of Dr. Richardson, who says, that though" the cloth wrapping of the mummy is generally coarse, it is occasionally met with of the finest texture;" which completely proves the accuracy of the sacred historian. Trav. vol. ii, p. 113. of office, with which Mordecai the Jew was arrayed in the court of Ahasuerus, were still more gorgeous, for he "went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple."m From these quotations it appears, that the investiture consisted of various ceremonies; the appointment was no sooner announced, than the monarch took the ring from his hand, and put it on the finger of the minister, then he changed his dress, then put a gold chain about his neck, and last of all presented him with an equipage corresponding with his dignity, which completed the investiture. In Abyssinia, the governor of Tigré, who is at the same time the greatest man in the kingdom, has the privilege to use a gold cup for drinking, which he received from his sovereign as an appendage to his office," Such, it is probable, was Joseph's cup, out of which he drank on public occasions, which he might be supposed greatly to value, and to preserve with jealous care. If this conjecture be well founded, it serves to account, in a more satisfactory manner, for the astonishment and terror which overwhelmed his brethren when they found it in Benjamin's sack. To abstract a single article from the house of one who had entertained them so kindly, was peculiarly disgraceful; but to purloin the cup of office, which belonged to the prime minister of Egypt, was to involve them all in utter and inevitable destruction." The caffetan, or robe of honour, is often bestowed as a mark of distinction, without any reference to office. La Roque, and three other attendants on the French consul at Sidon, received each a robe of honour at a public audience, from Ishmael, the Turkish basha. In China the agents of foreign powers are sometimes invested, by order of the Emperor, with dresses of honour. Mr. Bruce also was favoured with this mark of distinction by Osman, one of the beys of Egypt, on his return from Abyssinia ; which operated an immediate and important change to the better, in the sentiments and conduct of the persons to whose care he was committed; the haughty Mussulmans no sooner beheld him retire from the presence chamber, with this mark of their master's regard, than laying aside the brutality in which they indulged before, they became civil, attentive, and even obsequious, to the stranger, whom they still secretly hated or despised. The kings of Persia bestow a dress of honour upon their favourites, particularly on occasion of their great festivals.t Mr. Lowth supposes, in his Commentary on Daniel, that, although the king thought himself bound to per form his promise to clothe the venerable seer with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and make him third ruler in the kingdom, yet it was likely it could not take effect at that unseasonable time of the night: and, therefore, the words might have been better translated: "Then commanded Belshazzar that they should clothe Daniel with scarlet." But this is an unnecessary refinement; for these caffetans are always in readiness, and are commonly put on as soon as the command is given. Mr. Bruce received the caffetan in the middle of the night; and the following passage from Chardin, will shew how easy it is for an oriental prince to put a garment on the Voy. dans la Palest. vol. i, p. 16. Trav. vol. vi, p. 532. it Morier's Trav. vol. i, p. 69. person he intends to honour. Having observed, that in Persia and the Indies, they not only give a vestment, but even a complete suit of clothes, when they would distinguish a person with more than ordinary honour, he proceeds: "These presents of vestments are only from superiors to inferiors; not from equals to equals, nor from the mean to the great. Kings constantly give them to ambassadors, residents and envoys; and send them to princes who are their tributaries, and do them homage. They pay great attention to the quality, or merit of those to whom these vestments, or habits, are given; they are always answerable to their rank. Those that are given to their great men have, in like manner, as much difference as there is between the degrees of honour they possess in the state. The kings of Persia have great wardrobes, where there are always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for presents, and sorted. The intendant of the wardrobe sends one of them to the person, as the great master orders, and of that kind the order directs. In Turkey, they pay little attention to the difference of the cloth of which the vestments are made; they make them nearly of the same value, but they give more or fewer, according to the dignity of the person to whom they are presented, or the degree in which they wish to honour him. Some ambassadors have received twenty-five or thirty of them, for themselves and their attendants; and one person sometimes receives a number for himself, according to his rank."" But besides the caffetan, an eastern prince sometimes gives his own garment as the highest token of respect; thus Selim gave his robe to the iman of the "Harmer's Obs. vol. ii, p. 394, 395. See also Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. ii, p. 14. |