EXCURSUS E: THE FOUR KINGDOMS (DANIEL 2:7). In the notes upon the parallel, though supplementary, vision contained in Daniel 2:7 attention has been directed to each of the four empires which has hitherto governed the world. It has been explained in the notes that these four empires are the Babylonia... [ Continue Reading ]
II. (1) THE SECOND YEAR. — Nebuchadnezzar was proleptically spoken of as “king of Babylon” in Daniel 1:1, for his father did not die till after the battle of Carchemish. On the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, see Notes on 2 Kings 24:1.) DREAMS. — Spoken of in Daniel 2:3 as “a dream.” The one dream consis... [ Continue Reading ]
MAGICIANS. — Heb. _chartummim,_ so called, most probably, from the pencil or stylus with which they wrote. The word is elsewhere used of the Egyptian magicians. (See Schrader, _Keil-Inschriften,_ p. 26; _Records of the Past,_ vol. 1 p. 131.) ASTROLOGERS. — Heb. _ashshaphim,_ a name derived from the... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DREAMED. — It has been questioned whether the king had really forgotten his dream, or whether he only pretended to have done so in order that he might prove the skill of his wise men. The conduct of the Chaldæans (Daniel 2:10) makes the latter hypothesis possible. However, it is more in accor... [ Continue Reading ]
IN SYRIACK. — Probably a fresh title, indicating to the copyist that the Chaldee portion of the book begins here. It has been conjectured that this portion of the book (Daniel 2:4) is a Chaldee translation of an original Hebrew work, but there is no authority for the conjecture. God is about to reve... [ Continue Reading ]
IS GONE FROM ME. — This difficult word, the etymology of which is very uncertain, appears only here and Daniel 2:8. It seems to mean, “The order has been published by me (comp. Esther 7:7; Isaiah 45:23), and therefore cannot be recalled.” CUT IN PIECES. — This was by no means an uncommon form of pu... [ Continue Reading ]
REWARDS. — A word of uncertain meaning. It occurs again Daniel 5:17, and probably is correctly rendered.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE KING TELL. — The request was reasonable enough, according to the principles of Babylonian sorcery. Nebuchadnezzar’s doubts, however, were awakened, and he was not sure of the veracity of his magicians. He speaks with great common sense (Daniel 2:9), “If you can tell me the dream, I shall be... [ Continue Reading ]
GAIN TIME. — They hoped that by continual postponement they would induce the king to let the matter pass over; or, if not, that they might be able to wheedle the dream out of him,... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS BUT ONE DECREE. — He refers to the decree mentioned Daniel 2:5, that both the dream and the interpretation must be told. These two things must go together, for they form the subject of one decree. YE HAVE PREPARED... BE CHANGED — _i.e.,_ “you have made au agreement among yourselves to post... [ Continue Reading ]
NO KING. — A further argument of the wise men, offering a delicate flattery to the king, and, at the same time, assuming as a proof of their wisdom, that _all_ possibilities had been already submitted to them. “Because no king,” they say, “has left any precedent for such a request, therefore the thi... [ Continue Reading ]
A RARE THING — _i.e.,_ a difficult matter. The difficulty is so great, that the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh are alone able to solve it. Here the reference is to a doctrine of Babylonian theology, according to which every man from his birth onward had a special deity attached to him as his... [ Continue Reading ]
This order to massacre the wise men extended apparently only to those who were resident in the city of Babylon, where they had a fixed habitation. Though Daniel had been already trained in their schools, he had not as yet been appointed “a wise man.” However, being a student, his death was implied i... [ Continue Reading ]
ARIOCH. — See Note on Genesis 14:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HASTY. — Literally, _why is this severe decree of the king?_ By this question Daniel wished Arioch to understand that after all the matter was not impossible, as the wise men had stated it to be.... [ Continue Reading ]
DANIEL WENT IN. — Two characteristics of the prophet strike us, which distinguish the one who trusts in God’s help from those who relied entirely upon their secular wisdom. (1) The courage of Daniel, which led him to venture into the king’s presence upon a humane errand. (2) His humility, in asking... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOD OF HEAVEN. — We meet with this title of Almighty God for the first time in Genesis 24:7. After the Captivity, it frequently designates the true God as contrasted with the heathen gods. (See Ezra 1:2; Nehemiah 1:5; Psalms 136:26.) It is used by Daniel in this sense in this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
NIGHT VISION. — Not in a dream, but literally in a vision; but that Daniel saw a repetition of the king’s dream cannot be inferred from the words. We know from Numbers 12:6 that God was pleased to reveal the truth both by dreams and by visions.... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED BE THE NAME. — Daniel’s prayer is for the most part framed upon the model of scriptural language, while on the other hand it appears to have been adapted to their own special needs by later pious servants of God. The Doxology, with which it commences, is founded upon the liturgical formula c... [ Continue Reading ]
CHANGETH TIMES — _i.e.,_ He orders the events which occur at different times and seasons. Daniel refers to the dream which had been recently revealed to him, in which the changes of future times and seasons were depicted in so marvellous a way. “Times” are opposed to “seasons,” as circumstances of t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE REVEALETH. — Comp. Job 12:22. HE KNOWETH. — Comp. Psalms 139:12. THE LIGHT DWELLETH. — Perhaps “illumination” rather than “light” expresses the actual meaning. Man himself requires illumination from an external source. This source is God, the “sun of man’s soul,” in Whom light dwells as if He w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HAST GIVEN ME. — The Hebrew perfect represents what has already occurred and still continues. (See Jeremiah 2:2.) The wisdom spoken of here does not refer to the dream, but to the same subjects as in Daniel 1:7. GOD OF MY FATHERS. — Comp. 1 Kings 18:36; Psalms 105 God dealt gloriously with Isra... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE — _i.e.,_ now that he knows the dream and the interpretation. Daniel approached the king through Arioch, for it is probable that the Babylonian custom, like the Persian (Esther 5:1) or Median (Herod. i. 99), did not permit any persons except the principal officers of state to have direct a... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE FOUND. — It is not strictly true that Arioch had diligently searched for any interpreters of the king’s dream. However, the circumstances mentioned in Daniel 2:16; Daniel 2:24, warrant the language which he uses.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE NAME WAS BELTESHAZZAR. — A parenthetic clause, introduced to remind the reader that by this name only Daniel was known to the king. (Comp. Daniel 4:8.) ART THOU ABLE. — The king does not pretend to be ignorant of the person of Daniel. He had, in fact, only recently (Daniel 1:19) examined him... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECRET... — In this and the next verse Daniel justifies the astonishment of the king, and explains to him that what the wise men had stated was perfectly true. The “gods whose dwelling was with flesh” (see Note on Daniel 2:11) could not reveal the secret, but there was a God in heaven who had ma... [ Continue Reading ]
VISIONS OF THY HEAD. — Called “thoughts,” Daniel 2:29, which were the natural means through which the supernatural revelation was communicated. These “came” into his mind without his forcing them upon himself. He was thinking of other things, further conquests, perhaps, and the like, but these thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREAFTER — _i.e.,_ in the course of history, not only in the Messianic days.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ANY WISDOM — _i.e.,_ by reason of any wisdom of his own, but “for the sake of the king.”... [ Continue Reading ]
A GREAT IMAGE. — Properly, _one great image._ This is one important feature in the vision. The image, though representing many things, was itself only “one.” (See Note on Daniel 2:1.) That the image was of human form is evident from the further descriptions of the various parts of the body given in... [ Continue Reading ]
BREAST... — It should be remarked that though many different parts of the body of the image are mentioned, Daniel regards the whole thing as made up of only four parts, each corresponding to one of the four metals. Similarly he shows the history of the world in its relation to God’s people, complica... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SAWEST. — Literally, the king _kept on gazing_ in wonder at the image.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE THE CHAFF. — This language recalls Psalms 1:4; Psalms 2:9. It is emblematic of Divine judgments, as Isaiah 41:15; Jeremiah 51:33, &c. Comp. with this the description of the Judgment, Daniel 7:9. Observe, however, that the stone did not crush the head, breast, or loins of the body. These became... [ Continue Reading ]
WE — _i.e._, Daniel and his three friends, for to their intercession (Daniel 2:17) the revelation was due.... [ Continue Reading ]
Interpretation of the vision. Nebuchadnezzar is the head; or, in other words, he is the first of the four kingdoms which are denoted by the image. His kingdom was the largest that the world had till then known; in fact, a writer cited by Josephus (_Ap._ i. 20), compares him to Hercules. We find a si... [ Continue Reading ]
ANOTHER KINGDOM. — These words make it clear that by “the king” in the last verse “kingdom” was meant; or, in other words, Nebuchadnezzar was identified with his kingdom (comp. Daniel 7:5; Daniel 8:3; Daniel 8:20). The second kingdom is the Medo-Persian (as appears more fully below, _Exc._ E). The i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FOURTH. — It should be observed that the description of this kingdom is much fuller than those of the preceding empires. The same fact will be remarked in the later visions (Daniel 7:7; Daniel 7:19). BREAKETH ALL THINGS. — Remembering that the comparison is between iron and the fourth empir... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE DIVIDED. — The meaning seems to be, “notwithstanding that there will be inward divisions in this last empire, as is signified by the divisions, first into two legs, then into two feet, and lastly into ten toes, yet the outward character of it will be the strength of iron.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE KINGDOM. — This strength, however, is only apparent. There are certain discordant elements in the fourth empire. These are here represented by the iron and clay, which cannot be made to cohere.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEED OF MEN. — The great obscurity of this verse is partially cleared by a reference to Jeremiah 31:27. Daniel appears to be contrasting what man is endeavouring to accomplish by his own efforts with that which the God of heaven (Daniel 2:44) will carry out. Man will form his plans for uniting the d... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS. — Yet no kings have been mentioned hitherto. They must therefore correspond to the toes of the image. (Comp. Daniel 7:24.) It appears therefore that while this fourth kingdom still contrives to exist in some modified form, while its component parts are in a state of war a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STONE CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN. — The mountain was not mentioned in Daniel 2:34. In the language of prophecy, it must mean Mount Zion, which appears in other passages to be closely connected with the Messiah and His Kingdom, _e.g.,_ Isaiah 2:2; Psalms 1:2. The stone is set free from this mountain... [ Continue Reading ]
WORSHIPPED. — This act is of an entirely different nature from such as are mentioned Genesis 33:7; 1 Kings 1:16. The Hebrew word employed here is always used (_e.g.,_ Isaiah 46:6) of paying adoration to an idol. Probably the king imagined that the gods were dwelling in Daniel in a higher sense from... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD OF GODS. — He does not acknowledge Jehovah as the true God, but deems Him worthy of a place in the Babylonian Pantheon.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROVINCE. — According to Daniel 3:2, the Babylonian empire consisted of several provinces, each of which had its own ruler or _Shilton._ Daniel became ruler of this one province of Babylon. What the other office was to which he was advanced may possibly be explained when further discoveries have... [ Continue Reading ]
OVER THE AFFAIRS. — Compare Nehemiah 2:16; Esther 3:9. These holy children, it appears from this verse, were satraps, under Daniel’s supervision. GATE OF THE KING. — Compare Esther 3:2, &c. Daniel was of higher rank than his three friends, and was therefore admitted into the inner part of the palac... [ Continue Reading ]