the want of the article in צבא in Dan 8:12 and in Dan 8:13 has its reason in this, that that which is said does not concern the whole host, but only one part of it, since, according to Dan 8:10, the hostile horn will cast only some הצבא מן (of the host) to the earth. If, therefore, there is no sufficient ground for rejecting the application of the צבא to the people of Israel, it follows that this interpretation is decidedly required not only by the connection, chiefly by Dan 8:13, but also by that which is said of צבא in Dan 8:12. “Since in Dan 8:13 the inquirer resumes the contents of Dan 8:10-12, and along with the sanctuary names also the 'host' as the object of the 'treading down,' it is not credible that this 'host' should be different from that mentioned in Dan 8:12” (Klief.). Moreover, תּנּתן can have in this passage only the meaning of to be given up. התּמיד על can then only be translated because of the permanent sacrifice, if בּפשׁע (by reason of transgression) is united as object with תּנּתן in the sense: “was delivered up in transgression.” But apart from this, that נתן in the sense of to give up is construed with בּיד, and there are wanting certain parallels for its construction with ב merely, this interpretation, “the host (= Israel) is given up in wickedness on account of the continual sacrifice,” presents an idea not to be tolerated. We agree, therefore, in general with the interpretation of Daniel B. Michaelis, Hävernick, v. Lengerke, Maurer, Kranichfeld, and Kliefoth, and explain the words thus: “and (an) host shall be given up together with the daily sacrifice, because of transgression.” צבא, an host, i.e., a great company of the host, the people of Israel. ב before פּשׁע (transgression) in the meaning of ב pretii, on account of (um), or because of, cf. Gen 18:28. פּשׁע is the apostasy of the Israelites from God, the wickedness proceeding from the פּשׁעים (transgressors), Dan 8:23. The objection that this interpretation is not appropriate, because פּשׁע is repeated in Dan 8:13 in union with שׁמם (desolation), and therefore a wickedness devoted to destruction is characterized (Klief.), avails nothing, because it in no way follows from this that the “transgression” must be wickedness seating itself in the place of the “daily sacrifice,” idolatrous worship supplanting the true worship. But “the transgression” cannot be that which sets itself in the place of the “daily sacrifice,” because התּמיד is not the subject of the sentence, but is only co-ordinated to the subject. If ב in בּפשׁע is regarded as the ב pretii, then פשׁע can only be that which would be put in the place of the צבא. The preposition על before התּמיד means thereon, after that, also at the same time, or together with, as in Amo 3:15;
