Arboreal Metaphors and Botanical Symbolism in the Theodotion Susanna Narrative

Within the Theodotion version of the Susanna narrative, arboreal metaphors occur in Daniel’s sentence of judgment on the two sinful elders who were thwarted in their attempt to rape the heroine (vv. 55, 59). Here the famous Greek wordplays are a verbal expression that conveys the principle of “measure for measure,” whereby the punishment is intended to fit the crime, just as King Belshazzar’s offence is met by the Aramaic wordplay Mene, mene, tekel uparsin (Dan 5:25). The punishment decreed on the unnamed elders (being sawn or split through the middle) has echoes of several prophetic oracles using arboreal metaphors to describe the cutting down of powerful rulers (Isa 10:33–34; Ezek 31:12). Such imagery appears especially in Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream (Dan 4:11[14], 20[23]).