SERIES III.9: THE LANGUAGE OF LINEAGE โ HIPPOLYTUS
Covenant โข Foreign Lands โข Captivity
After describing โvarious nationsโ being gathered into one body, Hippolytus continues to interpret Daniel through the inherited identity of Israel. Captivity does not erase that identity; Daniel and his companions remain bound to what Hippolytus calls the covenant of their fathers.
For they were not seduced by the meats of the king, nor were they slaves to the pleasures of wine; but they kept the covenant of the fathers, and did not transgress the law given by Moses.
For the captivity was brought about for the correction, not the ruin, of the whole nation.
โ Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel, Book I, early 3rd century; ANF 5.
Hippolytusโ language is defining of his message, Israel has been removed from its land and placed under a foreign kingdom, yet he still identifies them through their fathers, inherited covenant, Mosaic law, and โthe whole nation.โ
Dispersion therefore does not dissolve ancestral or covenantal identity in Hippolytusโ works. The people remain connected to their fathers even while dwelling under another nation. This gives further context to his earlier language of โvarious nationsโ as geographical displacement and national plurality do not, in themselves, erase inherited identity.
Ad fontes.
III.8
