St. Jerome, who translated these, together with the canonical parts of the book of Daniel from the Greek version of Theodotion. observes: 'Dan iel, as received among the Hebrews, contains neither the history of Susanna, nor the Hymn of the Three Children, nor the Fables of Bel and the Dragon, all of which, as they are dispersed throughout the world, we have added, lest to the ignorant we should seem to have cut off a con siderable part of the book, transfixing them at the same time with a dagger.' Jerome further observes that the history of Susanna is considered by nearly all the He brews as a fable, and that it is not read in the synagogues ; for who, say they, could believe that captives had the power of starving their princes and judges? (Pra'f. ad Danielein).
(i) The subject of the Prayer of Azarias, and of the Song of the three youths. Azarias, Ananias and Misael (the Hebrew names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego), consists in a petition for deliverance from the furnace, and a hymn of thanksgiving on the part of the young men for their preservation in the midst of the flames. De \Vette (Lchrbuch) conceives that the Prayer and the Hymn betray marks of two different authors (Dan. iii :38; comp. with 53. 55. 84, 85, Stephen's Division), and that the latter has the appearance of being written with a liturgical object. Certain it is that, from a very early pe riod, it formed part of the church service (see Rufinus. in Symbol. Apost., who observes that this hymn was then sung throughout the whole church, and Athanasins, 1)e virginitate); it is one of the canticles still sung on all festivals in the Roman, and retained in the daily service of the Anglican church.
(2) The History of Susanna is probably a moral parable, founded perhaps on some fact, and affording a beautiful lesson of chastity.
The object of the Jewish author of the history of the destruction of Bel and the Dragon was, according to Jahn, 'to warn against the sin of idolatry some of his brethren who had embraced Egyptian superstitions. The book was, therefore, well adapted to the time, and shows that philoso phy was not sufficient to keep men from aposta tizing into the most absurd and degrading super stitions.' The time of the writing Jahn ascribes to the age of the Ptolemies, when serpents were still worshiped at Thebes.
(3) Bel and the Dragon is read in the Roman office on Ash Wednesday, and in the Church of England on the 23d of November. Susanna is read in the Anglican Church on the 22d of No vember, and in the Roman on the vigil of the fourth Sunday in Lent.
We shall conclude with the following observa tion of Erasmus: 'It is astonishing that what Jerome stabbed with his dagger is now every where read and sung in the churches ; nay, we read, without any mark of distinction, what Jerome did not fear to call a fable, the history of Bel and the Dragon, and which he would not have added had he not been apprehensive of seeming to have cut off a considerable portion of the sacred volume. But to whom did he fear to seem to do so? To the ignorant, as he himself observes. Of so much more weight to the igno rant multitude is custom than the judgment of the learned' (Schol. super Prof. Hieron. in Dan iel). W. W.
Davidson, Introd. Jo the Old Testament, iii :227 ff. ; Arnald, Comm. on the Apoc. Books; Fritzschc, Exeg. Handb.