Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
The Septuagint rendering differs only slightly from the Massoretic. "And when Daniel knew the decree which was passed ( ἔστησε) against him, he opened the windows of his upper chamber, and fell on his face three times a day, according as he did aforctimc, and prayed."
The Septuagint translator read עלה, "against him," instead of על, "went." It seems to us that the Massoretic reading, "went to his house," is an addition due to misreading עלה. That the variations of the Septuagint arc not due to paraphrase is proved by the tact that the next clause is literally translated.
It would seem that the text before the LXX. had been altered, so that we have "fell upon his face," instead of "knelt upon his knees." The former phrase is an echo from Daniel 2:46. It is to be observed that "prayed and gave thanks" is omitted from the Septuagint.
As the omission can have no purpose, and we can understand the reason of the words being added, we prefer the LXX. reading here. Theodotion and the Peshitta are at one with the Massoretic. The action of Daniel is here that of a man of true conscientiousness; he does not obtrude his religion now that the practice of it implies danger, as did some Christian fanatics in the persecution of the three first centuries; nor, on the other hand, does he hide his acts of worship—he simply continued his previous habits.
Had a Jewish fanatic of the time of the Maccabees written this, the action attributed to Daniel would have been much more uncompromising, as the story in the Midrash Rabba of Moses in regard to the crown of Pharaoh.
Or Daniel would be represented as doing, as the Jews arc said in Third Maccabees to have done to Ptolemy, bowing himself down in humble abasement before the king, to get him to reverse his decree, or, if not, to devise some means of its effect being averted.
Daniel does none of these things. His windows being open toward Jerusalem. The windows were lattices, and as the room was an upper one on the roof of the house, the opening of the windows enabled everything done in the apartment to be seen.
The practice of prayer "toward Jerusalem" is acknowledged to have arisen in Babylon during the Captivity. Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, refers to the contingency of captivity (l Kings 8:48), and prays that if the captives "pray unto thee toward their land, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy Name, then hear thou their prayer" (see also Psalms 5:8 (7)).
The practice of praying towards a particular point has been maintained by the Mohammedans, who pray towards Mecca. Mohammed originally made Jerusalem the qiblah, or point of prayer; but the Jews would not receive him as their Messiah, and so from Jerusalem it was changed to Mecca.
The objection of Bertholdt hardly needs to be mentioned, that "the temple was in ruins"—the place was holy ground. "Three times a day" is referred to Psalms 55:18 (17), "Evening and morning and at noonday will I complain."