The History Of Susanna
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [1]
sū́ - zan´a :
1. Name
2. Canonicity and Position
3. Contents
4. Fact or Fiction?
5. Date
1. Name:
This novelette has, in the Septuagint, the bare title "Susanna" ( Σουσάννα , Sousánna , from Hebrew שׁושׁנּה , shōshannāh , "lily"). So also in the Syro-Hexapla. In Codex Alexandrinus (Theodotion) it is designated Ὅρασις ρ Ο2 απ , Hórasis a (Vision I); see Bel And The Dragon , I. In the Harklensian Syriac (Ball's W2 ) its title is "The Book of Little (or the child?) Daniel."
2. Canonicity and Position:
Susanna was with the other Additions included in the Bible Canon of the Greek, Syrian and Latin churches. Julius Africanus (circa 230 AD) was the first to dispute the right of Susanna to a place in the Canon, owing to its improbable character. Origen replied to him, strongly maintaining its historicity (see Schurer, Gjv 4 , III, 455; Hjp , II, 3, p. 186, where the references are given). In the Septuagint, Syro-Hexapla and Vulgate, Susanna is Daniel 14 , but in Theodotion (ABQ) it opens Daniel, preceding chapter 1, a position implied in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) which are based on Theodotion, formerly believed to be the true Septuagint. Yet it is probable that even in Theodotion the original place agreed with that in the true Septuagint (Swete's 87); so Roth (Kautzsch, Die Apok ., 172) and Driver (Commentary on Daniel, Cambridge Bible , xviii). See Bel And The Dragon .
3. Contents:
The story of Susanna is thus told in Theodotion's version, and therefore in English Versions of the Bible which follows it. Susanna was the beautiful and devout wife of Joakim who resided in Babylon in the early years of the exile, and owned a fine park which was open to his fellow-exiles (verses 1-4). Two of these last were elders and judges who, though held in high esteem, suffered impure thoughts toward Susanna to enter their minds. One day, meeting in the park, they divulged to each other their lustful passion toward this beautiful woman, and resolved together to seize the first opportunity to waylay her in the park and to overpower her (verses 5-15). A joint attempt was made upon Susanna, who resisted, notwithstanding threats of false accusation (verses 22-26). The elders make a false charge, both in private and in public, and she is accordingly condemned to death (verses 27-41). On the way to execution she is met by Daniel (= judge "of God") who has the case reopened, and by a system of cross-examination of the two elders succeeds in convincing the people that Susanna is innocent of the charge brought against her. She is acquitted, but her accusers are put to death.
The story told in the Septuagint (87) is essentially the same, though varying somewhat in details. Versions 1-4 seem to have been prefixed for clearness by Theodotion, for in Susanna verse 7 of the Septuagint Susanna is introduced for the first time: "These seeing a woman of beautiful appearance called Susanna, the wife of one of the Israelites," etc. The original text began therefore with verse 5, though in a slightly different form. Septuagint omits verses 15-18 which tell of the two elders concealing themselves and watching as Susanna entered the park and took her bath. There is not a word in Septuagint concerning the threats of the elders to defame Susanna in the event of her refusing what they desired (verses 20 ff); this omission makes the Septuagint form of the story obscure, suggesting that this section has fallen out by error. Nor does the Septuagint mention the crying out of Susanna and the elders (verse 24). The trial took place in the house, according to Theodotion (and English Versions of the Bible) (verse 28), but, according to Septuagint, in the synagogue (verse 28). In Septuagint (verse 30) it is said that the number of Susanna's relatives, servants and servant-maids present at the trial was 500; Theodotion is silent on this. Septuagint (verse 35) makes Susanna pray to God before her condemnation, but Theodotion (English Versions of the Bible, verses 42-44) after . According to Septuagint the young man whom the elders falsely said they found with Susanna escaped unobserved because masked; Theodotion says he got away because the elders had not strength to hold him (verse 39). Septuagint is silent about the two maids who, according to Theodotion (verse 36), accompanied Susanna to the bath. Theodotion does not speak of the angel who according to Septuagint imparted to Daniel the wisdom he displayed (but compare Theodotion, verse 50); but on the other hand he adds the words ascribed to Daniel (verse 51, English Versions), though he leaves out the words imputed to him by Septuagint (= even elders may lie). Septuagint omits the words of the people addressed to Daniel: "What mean these words which thou hast spoken?" (verse 47, Theodotion, English Versions of the Bible). According to Theodotion (verse 50) the people entreated Daniel to act as judge among them; Septuagint omits this statement. Two questions were put to the elders, according to the Septuagint: "Under what kind of tree?" "In what part of the park?" but only one, according to Theodotion (and English Versions of the Bible): "Under what kind of tree?" Septuagint has it that as a punishment the two elders were hurled down the precipice; according to Theodotion they were slain (verse 62). In the last two verses (verses 63 f) Septuagint points the moral of the story, but Theodotion closes by describing the joy of Susanna's relatives at the happy issue of the trial and the increased respect in which Daniel came to be held. For the dependence of the version see Text And Versions .
4. Fact or Fiction?:
It is quite evident that the story is a fabrication and that it came to be attached to Daniel on account of the part played in it by Daniel the judge. (1) The form of the story differs in Septuagint, Theodotion and the various Syriac recensions, showing that it was a floating legend, told in manifold ways. (2) No confirmation of what is here narrated has been discovered in written or epigraphic sources. (3) The grounds on which Susanna was condemned are trivial and wholly inadequate. (4) The conduct of the judge, Daniel, is unnatural and arbitrary.
Though, however, the story is fictitious, it rests in part or wholly on older sources. (1) Ewald ( Geschichte3 , IV, 386) believed that it was suggested by the Babylonian legend in which two old men are seduced by the goddess of love (compare Koran 2 96). (2) Brull ( Das apokryphische Sus-Buch , 1877), followed by Ball ( Speaker's Apocrypha , II, 323-31), Marshall and R. H. Charles, came to the following conclusions: ( a ) That the first half of the story rests on a tradition regarding two elders (Ahab and Zedekiah) who seduced certain women by persuading them that they would thus become the mother of the Messiah. This tradition has its origin probably in Jeremiah 29:21-23 , where it is said that Yahweh would sorely punish Ahab and Zedekiah because they had "committed villany in Israel," having "committed adultery with their neighbours' wives" (the King James Version). We can trace the above story amid many variations in the writings of Origen and Jerome and in sundry rabbinical works. ( b ) The trial scene is believed to have a wholly different origin. It is said to have arisen about 100-96 BC, when Simon ben Shetach was president of the Sanhedrin. His son was falsely accused of a capital offense and was condemned to death. On the way to execution the accusers admitted that he was innocent of the crime; yet at his own request the son is executed in order that the father's hands might be strengthened in the inauguration of new reforms in the administration of justice. The Pharisees and Sadducees differed as to the punishment to be meted out to false witnesses where the death sentence was involved. The first party advocated a stricter examination of witnesses, and a severer penalty if their testimony could be proved false. The Sadducee party took up a more moderate position on both points. Susanna has been held to be a kind of tract setting forth by example the views of the Pharisee party. If this opinion of the origin of Susanna be accepted, this tract was written by a Palestinian Jew, a position rendered probable by other considerations.
5. Date:
If, as the Greek, Latin and Syriac churches held and hold, Susanna forms an integral part of Daniel, the date of this last book (see Daniel ) is the date of Sus. But there is conclusive evidence that the three "Additions" circulated independently, though we have no means of fixing the date with any certainty. Perhaps this piece arose during the struggles between the Pharisees and Sadducees about 94-89 BC; see preceding section. In that case 90 Bc would be a suitable date. On the date of Theodotion's translation see Daniel; Bel And The Dragon; Text And Versions .
6. Original Language:
Our materials for judging of the language in which the author wrote are slender, and no great probability can at present be reached. The following scholars argue for a Greek original: Fritzsche, De Wette, Keil, Herzfeld, Graf, Holtzmann. The following are some of the grounds: (1) There are several paronomasias or word-plays, as in Susanna verses 54 f, σχῖνον , schı́non ("under a mastick tree")... σχίσει , schı́sei ("will cut"); verses 58 f, πρῖνον , prı́non ("under a holm tree")... πρίσαι , prı́sai ("to cut"). But this last word ( prisai ) is absent from the true Septuagint, though it occurs in Theodotion (Swete's text, verse 59, has kataprı́sē from the same root). If the word-play in verses 58 f is due to a translation based on Septuagint, the first example (verses 54 f), found in Septuagint and Theodotion, is as likely to be the work of the translator of those verses from the Hebrew. (2) It is said that no trace of a Hebrew original has been discovered; but up to a few years ago the same statement could have been made of Sir.
There is a growing opinion that the author wrote in Hebrew (or Aramaic?); so Ball, J. T. Marshall, R. H. Charles. (1) The writer was almost certainly a Palestinian Jew, and he would be far more likely to write in his own language, especially as he seems to have belonged to the Pharisaic party, who were ardent nationalists (see preceding section, at end). (2) There is a goodly number of Hebraisms, rather more than one would expect had the writer composed in Hellenistic Greek
For versions and literature see Bel And The Dragon; Daniel; the Oxford Apocrypha, edition by R. H. Charles, 638 ff.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
being one of the appendices to the canonical book of Daniel. (See Apocryphal Additions To Daniel).
1. Title And Position. — This Apocryphal piece has different titles. Sometimes it is called ( Σουσάννα ) Susanna, sometimes ( Δανιήλ ) Daniel, and sometimes ( Διάκρισις Δανιήλ ) The Judgment Of Daniel. Equally uncertain is its position. The Vat. and Alex. MSS. and the Vet. Lat. place it before the first chapter of Daniel, while the Sept., after the Cod. Chisianus and Theodotion, ed. Complu., put it after ch. 12.
2. Design. — The object of this attractive story is to celebrate the triumph of womanly virtue over temptations and dangers, and to exalt the wisdom of Daniel in saving the life of the pious heroine. Chrysostom rightly sets forth the beautiful lesson of chastity which this story affords, when he says, "God permitted this trial, that he might publish Susanna's virtue and the others' incontinence; and, at the same time, by her exemplary conduct, give a pattern to the sex of the like resolution and constancy in case of temptation" (Serra. de Susanna). The story of Susanna is therefore read in the Roman Church on the vigil of the fourth Sunday in Lent, and in the Anglican Church on Nov. 22,
3. Character; Author, Date, And Original Language. — Though the form of this story, as we now have it, shows that it is greatly embellished, yet there is every reason to believe that it is not wholly fictitious, but based upon fact. The paronomasias in Daniel's examination of the elders, when he is represented as saying to the one who affirmed he saw the crime committed, Ὑπὸ Σχῖνον , Under A Mastich-Tree, "the angel of God hath received sentence of God, Σχίσαι Σε Μέσον , To Cut Thee In Two; " and to the other, who asserted he saw it committed, Ὑπὸ Πρῖνον , Under A Holm- Tree, the angel of the Lord waiteth with the sword, Πρίσαι Σε Μέσον , To Cut Thee In Two," only prove that the Greek is an elaboration of an old Hebrew story, but not that it originated with the Alexandrine translator of Daniel. The Song of Solomon may have suggested material to the author. The opinion of Eusebius, Apollinarius, and Jerome, that the prophet Habakkuk is the author of the History of Susanna is evidently derived from the Greek inscription of the History of Bel and the Dragon. (See Apocrypha).
II. One of the women who ministered to our Lord's personal wants out of their private means ( Luke 8:2-3). A.D. 28.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [3]
A story in the Apocrypha, evidently conceived to glorify Daniel as a judge, and which appears to have been originally written by a Jew in Greek. She had been accused of adultery by two of the elders and condemned to death, but was acquitted on Daniel's examination of her accusers to their confusion and condemnation to death in her stead. The story has been allegorised by the Church, and Susanna made to represent the Church, and the two elders her persecutors.
