Daniel 2:5

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. THE KING ANSWERED ... TO THE CHALDEANS, THE THING IS GONE FROM ME - i:e., 'The dream is gone from me.' Gesenius translates, 'The decree is gone forth from me,' irrevocable (cf. ), namely, that you shall be executed if you do not tell both the dream and the interpretation. The English version is simpler, which supposes the king himself to have forgotten the dream. Pretenders to supernatural knowledge often bring on themselves their own punishment. IF YE WILL NOT MAKE KNOWN UNTO ME THE DREAM ... YE SHALL BE CUT IN PIECES - (, "Samuel bowed Ag...

Here the king requires from the Chaldeans more than they professed to afford him; for although their boasting, as we have said, was foolish in promising to interpret any dream, yet they never claimed the power of narrating to any one his dreams. The king, therefore, seems to me to act unjustly in not regarding what they had hitherto professed, and the limits of their art and science, if indeed they had any science! When he says — the matter or speech had departed from him, the words admit of a twofold sense, for מלתה _, millethah, _may be taken for all “_edict, _” as we shall afterwards see; and so it might be read, _has flowed away; _but since the same form of expression will be shortly repeated when it seems to be, used of the dream, (Daniel 2:8,) this explanation is suitable enough, as the king says his dream had vanished so I leave the point undecided. It is worthwhile no

1-13 The greatest men are most open to cares and troubles of mind, which disturb their repose in the night, while the sleep of the labouring man is sweet and sound. We know not the uneasiness of many who live in great pomp, and, as others vainly think, in pleasure also. The king said that his learned men must tell him the dream itself, or they should all be put to death as deceivers. Men are more eager to ask as to future events, than to learn the way of salvation or the path of duty; yet foreknowledge of future events increases anxiety and trouble. Those who deceived, by pretending to do what they could not do, were sentenced to death, for not being able to do what they did not pretend to....

Verse Daniel 2:5. _YE SHALL BE CUT IN PIECES_] This was arbitrary and tyrannical in the extreme; but, in the order of God's providence, it was overruled to serve the most important purpose....

THE KING ANSWERED AND SAID TO THE CHALDEANS, THE THING IS GONE FROM ME - The Vulgate renders this, “Sermo recessit a me” - “The word is departed from me.” So the Greek, Ὁ λόγος ἀπ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἀπέστη _Ho_ _logos_ _ap'_ _emou_ _apestē_. Luther, “Es ist mir entfallen” - “It has fallen away from me,” or has departed from me. Coverdale, “It is gone from me.” The Chaldee word rendered “the thing” - מלתה _mı̂ll__e__thâh_ - means, properly, “a word, saying, discourse” - something which is “spoken;” then, like דבר _dâbâr_ and the Greek ῥῆμα _rēma_, a “thing.” The reference here is to the matter under consideration, to wit, the dream and its meaning. The fair interpretation is, that he had forgotten the dream, and that if

EXPOSITION DANIEL 2:1 DANIEL FIRST BECOMES DISTINGUISHED. DANIEL 2:1 AND IN THE SECOND YEAR OF THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR NEBUCHADNEZZAR DREAMED DREAMS, WHEREWITH HIS SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED, AND HIS SLEEP BRAKE FROM HIM. The versions only differ verbally from the Massoretic text as represented by the above. The Septuagint renders "And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he chanced to fall into dreams and visions, and to be troubled with his vision, and his sleep went from him." The differences here that may evidence a difference of text are slight. Theodotion and the Peshitta are very close to the Massoretic. The Vulgate renders, "In the second year of

THE KING ANSWERED AND SAID TO THE CHALDEANS,.... In the same language they spoke to him: THE THING IS GONE FROM ME; either the dream was gone from him; it was out of his mind, he had forgot it, and could not call it to remembrance; he had been dreaming of monarchies and kingdoms, which are themselves but dreams and tales, and empty things that pass away, and which he might have learned from hence: or, as it may be rendered, "the word is confirmed by me" z. Saadiah says, that some observe that the word here used has the signification of strength or firmness; and so Aben Ezra interprets the word, is stable and firm; to which agrees the Syriac version, "most sure is the word which I pronounce;'' referring not to the dream, but to what follows the king's declaration, both with respect to threatenings and promises: IF YE WILL NOT MAKE KNOWN UNTO ME THE DREAM, WITH THE INTERPRETATION THERE...

CHAPTER 2 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM AND ITS INTERPRETATION _ 1. The forgotten dream (Daniel 2:1)_ 2. The prayer meeting in Babylon and the answer (Daniel 2:14) 3. Daniel before the king (Daniel 2:24) 4. The revelation and interpretation of the dream (Daniel 2:29) 5. The promotion of Daniel and his companions (Daniel 2:46) Daniel 2:1. The king had a dream which was occasioned by thinking concerning the future ...

THE FORGOTTEN DREAM. Nebuchadnezzar, troubled by a dream which had escaped him, calls his magicians and orders them to recover it and explain its meaning. When they declare their inability, he issues orders that they are to be put to death. DANIEL 2:1. IN THE SECOND YEAR: this statement seems to be in conflict with Daniel 1:5; Daniel 1:18, which imply that Daniel spent three years in training. Driver suggests that the discrepancy can be explained thus: We know that Babylonian kings did not count the year of their accession as the first year of their reign, but regarded the second year as the first. In that case, the second year mentioned here would be the third, and it is quite possible that the dream may have occurred at t

THING. The dream. GONE FROM ME. Referring to the forgotten dream. CUT... MADE. DUNGHILL. Compare Daniel 3:29; Ezra 6:11. A further mode of punishment, from the Medo-Persians, in Daniel 6:7....