INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 4 This chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar himself; and was either taken out of his archives, or given by him to Daniel, who under divine inspiration inserted it into this work of his; and a very useful instruction it contains, showing the sovereignty of God over the greate... [ Continue Reading ]
NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE KING,..... This and the two following verses are annexed to the preceding chapter in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; as if the author of the division of the Chapter s thought that Nebuchadnezzar proposed by this public proclamation to celebrate... [ Continue Reading ]
I THOUGHT IT GOOD,.... Or, "fair" y and beautiful, highly becoming me, what was my duty, and what might be profitable and beneficial to others, and make for the glory of the great God of heaven and earth: TO SHOW THE SIGNS AND WONDERS THE HIGH GOD HATH WROUGHT TOWARD ME; to declare by writing the w... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW GREAT ARE HIS SIGNS! AND HOW MIGHTY ARE HIS WONDERS!.... They are great, very great, exceeding great; so great that it cannot be said, nor even conceived how great they are, what a display of wisdom, power, and goodness is in them; they are wonderful beyond expression and conception; and so stro... [ Continue Reading ]
I NEBUCHADNEZZAR WAS AT REST IN MINE HOUSE,.... Being returned from his wars, and having obtained victory over the Egyptians, and other nations, and made himself an universal monarch; and now was in entire rest from all his enemies; enjoying himself in his family, and among his courtiers, and nothin... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAW A DREAM WHICH MADE ME AFRAID,.... Things were represented to his fancy in a dream, as if he saw them with his eyes, as the tree, its leaves and fruit; the shaking and cutting it down to the stump, c. and though he did not understand the meaning of it, yet he thought it portended some evil, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE MADE I A DECREE,.... Published a proclamation; signifying it was his mind and will TO BRING IN ALL THE WISE MEN OF BABYLON BEFORE HIM; all together, supposing that one or other of them, or by consulting together, would be able to explain things to his satisfaction, and make him more easy:... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME IN THE MAGICIANS, THE ASTROLOGERS, THE CHALDEANS, AND THE SOOTHSAYERS,.... Daniel 2:2, AND I TOLD THE DREAM BEFORE THEM, BUT THEY DID NOT MAKE KNOWN UNTO ME THE INTERPRETATION THEREOF; because they could not; before they pretended, if the dream was told, they could give the interpretation... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AT THE LAST DANIEL CAME IN BEFORE ME,.... Whether sent for or no is not clear; the reason why he came not with the rest might be because he did not associate with them; nor did they care he should be among them, and present at this time; and it may be the king had forgot the knowledge he had of... [ Continue Reading ]
O BELTESHAZZAR, MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS,.... So he called him, either because he excelled them in knowledge, and was greater than they, as Jacchiades; though not of their rank and order, which Daniel would have scorned to have been among, and reckoned of; so that this would have been no compliment,... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS WERE THE VISIONS OF MINE HEAD IN MY BED,.... So things appeared to my fancy thus; they ran in my head or brain in a dream in my bed, as if I saw them with my eyes, as follows; for so I thought, I SAW, AND BEHOLD A TREE IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH; an emblem of a powerful prince well settled, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TREE GREW, AND WAS STRONG,.... Grew higher and broader, taller and thicker, increased in boughs and branches, and became strong and stable, that no winds nor storms could move it: this shows the increasing power of Nebuchadnezzar, the enlargement of his dominions, and the stability of his empire... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LEAVES THEREOF WERE FAIR,.... Or "branches" i, as some; and design either the provinces belonging to his empire, which were very large and flourishing; or the governors of them under him, as Saadiah, who made no small and contemptible figure; his princes were altogether kings: AND THE FRUIT THE... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAW IN THE VISIONS OF MY HEAD UPON MY BED,.... The king goes on to relate what other things presented themselves to his imagination in his dream, concerning this tree which signified himself: AND, BEHOLD, A WATCHER: which Saadiah interprets of Bath Kol; but Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Jacchiades, and Ben... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CRIED ALOUD,.... Or, with strengths; l being a mighty angel, and that he might be heard far and near: AND SAID THUS, HEW DOWN THE TREE; remove this mighty monarch from his throne; take away his government from him: this is said to fellow angels employed in the affairs of Providence, and the exec... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS, LEAVE THE STUMP OF HIS ROOTS IN THE EARTH,.... Let him not be utterly destroyed, or his life taken away; but let him continue in being; though in a forlorn condition, yet with hope of restoration; for a tree may be cut down to the stump, and yet revive again, Job 14:7 and let his kingd... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIS HEART BE CHANGED FROM MAN'S,.... Not as to the substance, but as to the quality: AND LET A BEAST'S HEART BE GIVEN UNTO HIM; from a human heart, let it be changed into a brutal one; let him be deprived of the use of reason, and have no more exercise of it than a brute has; let him be wholly... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MATTER IS BY THE DECREE OF THE WATCHERS,.... That is, the cutting down the tree, and what is signified by it, was with the advice, consent, and approbation of the watchers, by whom is generally understood angels; not that they were the authors of this decree, but approvers of it; and were ready... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS DREAM I KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR HAVE SEEN,.... So things were represented to him by a vision in a dream: NOW THOU, O BELTESHAZZAR, DECLARE THE INTERPRETATION THEREOF; at once, directly; as he was well assured he could, by what he had already done; having both told him his dream when forgotten by h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN DANIEL (WHOSE NAME WAS BELTESHAZZAR) WAS ASTONIED FOR ONE HOUR,.... Not at the difficulty of interpreting the dream, which was plain and easy to him; but at the sad and shocking things he saw plainly by the dream were coming upon the king: and though he was a wicked prince, and justly deserved... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TREE WHICH THOU SAWEST, e.] In these two verses is related part of the dream, which respects the flourishing estate of Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom Daniel 4:10, Daniel 4:11, Daniel 4:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
Daniel 4:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS THOU, O KING, THAT ART GROWN, AND BECOME STRONG,.... Here begins the interpretation of the dream: the tree was an emblem of King Nebuchadnezzar, of his greatness, and growing power and strength: FOR THY GREATNESS IS GROWN, AND REACHETH UNTO HEAVEN; he overtopped all the kings of the earth, ex... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEREAS THE KING SAW A WATCHER, AND AN HOLY ONE,.... Here is related another part of the dream, which respects the cutting down of the tree, or the miserable condition the king should be brought into; see Daniel 4:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE INTERPRETATION, O KING,.... Of this part of the dream, namely, what follows in the two next verses: AND THIS IS THE DECREE OF THE MOST HIGH; called before the decree of the watchers, Daniel 4:17, and is no other than the decree of that sovereign and absolute Being, whose purposes are un... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY SHALL DRIVE THEE FROM MEN,.... From conversation with men, as unfit for it; from his court and palace, from his nobles and princes. Saadiah interprets this of the angels: it may be rendered impersonally or passively, as in Daniel 4:33, "thou shalt be driven from men" r; not by his family,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEREAS THEY COMMANDED TO LEAVE THE STUMP OF THE TREE ROOTS,.... That is the watchers and the Holy Ones; or it was commanded: this was the order given by the most High: THY KINGDOM SHALL BE SURE UNTO THEE; signifying that another king should not be set up in his place; and though the kingdom an... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE, O KING, LET MY COUNSEL BE ACCEPTABLE TO THEE,.... Since this is the true interpretation of the dream, and such evils are like to befall thee according to it, permit me, though thou art a king, and I am thy minister or servant, to give thee some advice; and let it be taken in good part, as... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THIS CAME UPON THE KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR. All that was signified in the dream, his madness, the removal of him from the administration of government, and the brutal life he lived for seven years; for this was not a mere parable or fiction, as some have thought, framed to describe the state and pun... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE END OF TWELVE MONTHS,.... After the dream, and the interpretation of it; which, according to Bishop Usher s, Dean Prideaux t, and Mr. Whiston u, was in the year of the world 3435 A.M., and before Christ 569, and in the thirty sixth year of his reign: one whole year, a space of time, either wh... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING SPAKE AND SAID,.... Either within himself, or to his nobles about him; or perhaps to foreigners he had took up with him hither to show the grandeur of the city: IS NOT THIS GREAT BABYLON, THAT I HAVE BUILT; he might well call it great, for, according to Aristotle c, it was more like a coun... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE THE WORD WAS IN THE KING'S MOUTH, THERE FELL A VOICE FROM HEAVEN,.... Before the king had done speaking in the above boasting manner, an articulate voice from heaven was heard by him, and all about him, formed by the angels, and much like what the Jews call Bath Kol; see Acts 12:21, so Abydenu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL DRIVE THEE FROM MEN,.... According to the interpretation of the dream given by Daniel, which this voice from heaven confirms; Daniel 4:25, where the same things are said as here.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME HOUR WAS THE THING FULFILLED UPON NEBUCHADNEZZAR,.... Whence it appears that this was a true history, and a matter of fact; and not a parable or allegory, as Origen thought, describing the fall of Lucifer or Satan; but relates what befell Nebuchadnezzar himself: nor was the change real as t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AT THE END OF THE DAYS,.... Of the time fixed in the dream; that is, at the end of seven years, as Jarchi rightly interprets it; this according to Bishop Usher n, Dean Prideaux o, and Mr. Whiston p, was in the year of the world 3442 A.M., and before Christ 563, in the forty second year of his re... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH ARE REPUTED AS NOTHING,.... That is, by the most high God, in comparison of him; and that not only the common people, but magistrates, princes, and kings, and even so great a monarch as Nebuchadnezzar; they are like mere nonentities, nothing as to existence, subs... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE SAME TIME MY REASON RETURNED UNTO ME,.... Or, "my understanding" q; this he repeats, not only to express the certainty of it, but the sense he had of the greatness of the favour, and of which what he said at this time is a full proof: AND FOR THE GLORY OF MY KINGDOM MINE HONOUR AND BRIGHTNES... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW I NEBUCHADNEZZAR PRAISE AND EXTOL AND HONOUR THE KING OF HEAVEN,.... Now he knew that the heavens ruled, and that there was a God and a King there, above all gods and kings; who had brought him low, and raised him up again, and to whom were owing all his present glory and magnificence, and there... [ Continue Reading ]