Turning now to the Prayer itself, we notice first that there is nothing in it which connects it with the episode to which it is supposed to belong; the words of verse 2, which introduce the Prayer, viz. “Then Azarias rose up and prayed thus, and opened his mouth in the midst of the fire and said,” are an expansion made in order to give it an appearance of connection with verse 1; probably the words ran originally: “Then Azarias rose up and prayed thus,” or something to this effect. The Azarias here mentioned is not one of the “Three Children”; moreover, if the Prayer had originally been written in reference to them we should expect it to have been put into the mouth of Hananiah (Ananias), i.e. the equivalent of the Aramaic Shadrach, whose name is always placed first. That the Prayer was composed during the early part of the Maccabæan struggle seems probable for the following reasons: in verse 5 it says, “In all the things that Thou hast brought upon us, and upon the holy city of our fathers, even Jerusalem, Thou hast executed true judgements; for according to truth and justice hast Thou brought all these things upon us because of our sins.” The nation has thus suffered adversity. In verse 9 it says further: “And Thou didst deliver us into the hands of lawless enemies, and most hateful forsakers of God, and to a king unjust and the most wicked in all the world.” These “lawless enemies” who are “most hateful forsakers of God” are the extreme Hellenistic Jews mentioned in 1 Maccabees i. 11-15; and by the “king unjust and the most wicked in all the world” is meant Antiochus Epiphanes (cp. 1 Macc. i. 20-24, 41-64). The sore plight in which the nation found itself is shortly but graphically described in verses 14, 15; “For we, O Master, have been made less than all the nations, and are brought this day in all the world because of our sins. Neither is there at this time prince, or prophet, or leader, or burnt-offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place to offer before Thee and to find mercy.” This certainly describes the state of affairs in Palestine at the beginning of the Maccabæan struggle; the date of the composition would, therefore, be about B.C. 170; and the passages quoted read like the words of one who lived in Palestine. The indications in the Prayer of its having been originally written in Hebrew[414] would point in the same direction. The conjecture may be hazarded that in its original form it was in no way connected with the Book of Daniel; it was inserted, before the Greek translation was made, because its author happened to have the same name as one of the heroes in the Daniel story; but since some copies of Daniel must have existed which did not contain this addition there was a doubt as to whether it had any right to a place there. The canonical Daniel and the Septuagint represent respectively these two opinions.