mh_parser/vol_split/27 - Daniel/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Dan.iii" n="iii" next="Dan.iv" prev="Dan.ii" progress="67.79%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Dan.iii-p0.1">D A N I E L.</h2>
<h3 id="Dan.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Dan.iii-p1" shownumber="no">It was said (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1.17" parsed="|Dan|1|17|0|0" passage="Da 1:17"><i>ch.</i> i. 17</scripRef>) that Daniel had
understanding in dreams; and here we have an early and eminent
instance of it, which soon made him famous in the court of Babylon,
as Joseph by the same means came to be so in the court of Egypt.
This chapter is a history, but it is the history of a prophecy, by
a dream and the interpretation of it. Pharaoh's dream, and Joseph's
interpretation of it, related only to the years of plenty and
famine and the interest of God's Israel in them; but
Nebuchadnezzar's dream here, and Daniel's interpretation of that,
look much higher, to the four monarchies, and the concerns of
Israel in them, and the kingdom of the Messiah, which should be set
up in the world upon the ruins of them. In this chapter we have, I.
The great perplexity that Nebuchadnezzar was put into by a dream
which he had forgotten, and his command to the magicians to tell
him what it was, which they could not pretend to do, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.1-Dan.2.11" parsed="|Dan|2|1|2|11" passage="Da 2:1-11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. Orders given for the
destroying of all the wise men of Babylon, and of Daniel among the
rest, with his fellows, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.12-Dan.2.15" parsed="|Dan|2|12|2|15" passage="Da 2:12-15">ver.
12-15</scripRef>. III. The discovery of this secret to him, in
answer to prayer, and the thanksgiving he offered up to God
thereupon, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.16-Dan.2.23" parsed="|Dan|2|16|2|23" passage="Da 2:16-23">ver. 16-23</scripRef>.
IV. His admission to the king, and the discovery he made to him
both of his dream and of the interpretation of it, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.24-Dan.2.45" parsed="|Dan|2|24|2|45" passage="Da 2:24-45">ver. 24-45</scripRef>. V. The great honour
which Nebuchadnezzar put upon Daniel, in recompence for this
service, and the preferment of his companions with him, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.46-Dan.2.49" parsed="|Dan|2|46|2|49" passage="Da 2:46-49">ver. 46-49</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Dan.iii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2" parsed="|Dan|2|0|0|0" passage="Da 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Dan.iii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.1-Dan.2.13" parsed="|Dan|2|1|2|13" passage="Da 2:1-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Dan.iii-p1.10">Nebuchadnezzar's Forgotten
Dream. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 603.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iii-p2" shownumber="no">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.   2 Then the king
commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the
sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So
they came and stood before the king.   3 And the king said
unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to
know the dream.   4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in
Syriac, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we
will show the interpretation.   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.  
6 But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye
shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore
show me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.   7 They
answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream,
and we will show the interpretation of it.   8 The king
answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time,
because ye see the thing is gone from me.   9 But if ye will
not make known unto me the dream, <i>there is but</i> one decree
for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak
before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream,
and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof.
  10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There
is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter:
therefore <i>there is</i> no king, lord, nor ruler, <i>that</i>
asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
  11 And <i>it is</i> a rare thing that the king requireth,
and there is none other that can show it before the king, except
the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.   12 For this
cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy
all the wise <i>men</i> of Babylon.   13 And the decree went
forth that the wise <i>men</i> should be slain; and they sought
Daniel and his fellows to be slain.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p3" shownumber="no">We meet with a great difficulty in the date
of this story; it is said to be in the second year of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.1" parsed="|Dan|2|1|0|0" passage="Da 2:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
Now Daniel was carried to Babylon in his first year, and, it should
seem, he was three years under tutors and governors before he was
presented to the king, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1.5" parsed="|Dan|1|5|0|0" passage="Da 1:5"><i>ch.</i> i.
5</scripRef>. How then could this happen in <i>the second year?</i>
Perhaps, though three years were appointed for the education of
other children, yet Daniel was so forward that he was taken into
business when he had been but one year at school, and so in the
second year he became thus considerable. Some make it to be the
second year after he began to reign alone, but the fifth or sixth
year since he began to reign in partnership with his <i>father.</i>
Some read it, <i>and in the second year,</i> (the second after
Daniel and his fellows stood before the king), <i>in the kingdom of
Nebuchadnezzar,</i> or <i>in his reign,</i> this happened; as
Joseph, in the second year after his skill in dreams, showed and
expounded Pharaoh's, so Daniel, in the second year after he
commenced master in that art, did this service. I would much rather
take it some of these ways than suppose, as some do, that it was in
the second year after he had conquered Egypt, which was the
thirty-sixth year of his reign, because it appears by what we meet
with in Ezekiel, that Daniel was famous both for wisdom and
prevalence in prayer long before that; and therefore this passage,
or story, which shows how he came to be so eminent for both these
must be laid early in Nebuchadnezzar's reign. Now here we may
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p4" shownumber="no">I. The perplexity that Nebuchadnezzar was
in by reason of a dream which he had dreamed but had forgotten
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.1" parsed="|Dan|2|1|0|0" passage="Da 2:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>He dreamed
dreams,</i> that is, a dream consisting of divers distinct parts,
or which filled his head as much as if it had been many dreams.
Solomon speaks of a <i>multitude of dreams,</i> strangely
incoherent, in which <i>there are divers vanities,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.7" parsed="|Eccl|5|7|0|0" passage="Ec 5:7">Eccl. v. 7</scripRef>. This dream of
Nebuchadnezzar's had nothing in the thing itself but what might be
paralleled in many a common dream, in which are often represented
to men things as foreign as are here mentioned; but there was
something in the impression it made upon him which carried with it
an incontestable evidence of its divine original and its prophetic
significancy. Note, The greatest of men are not exempt from, nay,
they lie most open to, those cares and troubles of mind which
disturb their repose in the night, while <i>the sleep of the
labouring man is sweet</i> and sound, and the sleep of the sober
temperate man free from confused dreams. The abundance of the rich
will not suffer them to sleep at all for care, and the excesses of
gluttons and drunkards will not suffer them to sleep quietly for
dreaming. But this recorded here was not from natural causes.
Nebuchadnezzar was a troubler of God's Israel, but God here
troubled him; for he that made the soul can <i>make his sword to
approach to it.</i> He had his guards about him, but they could not
keep trouble from his spirit. We know not the uneasiness of many
that live in great pomp, and, one would think, in pleasure, too. We
look into their houses, and are tempted to envy them; but, could we
look into their hearts, we should pity them rather. All the
treasures and all the delights of the children of men, which this
mighty monarch had command of, could not procure him a little
repose, when by reason of the trouble of his mind his <i>sleep
broke from him.</i> But God <i>gives his beloved sleep,</i> who
return to him as their rest.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p5" shownumber="no">II. The trial that he made of his magicians
and astrologers whether they could tell him what his dream was,
which he had forgotten. They were immediately sent for, to <i>show
the king his dreams,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.2" parsed="|Dan|2|2|0|0" passage="Da 2:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>. There are many things which we retain the impressions
of, and yet have lost the images of the things; though we cannot
tell what the matter was, we know how we were affected with it; so
it was with this king. His dream had slipped out of his mind, and
he could not possibly recollect it, but he was confident he should
know it if he heard it again. God ordered it so that Daniel might
have the more honour, and, in him, the God of Daniel. Note, God
sometimes serves his own purposes by putting things out of men's
minds as well as by putting things into their minds. The magicians,
it is likely, were proud of their being sent for into the king's
bed-chamber, to give him a taste of their office, not doubting but
it would be for their honour. He tells them that he had <i>dreamed
a dream,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.3" parsed="|Dan|2|3|0|0" passage="Da 2:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
They speak to him in the Syriac tongue, which was then the same
with the Chaldee, but now they differ much. And henceforward Daniel
uses that language, or dialect of the Hebrew, for the same reason
that those words, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.11" parsed="|Jer|10|11|0|0" passage="Jer 10:11">Jer. x.
11</scripRef>, are in that language because designed to convince
the Chaldeans of the folly of their idolatry and to bring them to
the knowledge and worship of the true and living God, which the
stories of these chapters have a direct tendency to. But <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.8.1-Dan.8.27" parsed="|Dan|8|1|8|27" passage="Da 8:1-27"><i>ch.</i> viii.</scripRef> and forward, being
intended for the comfort of the Jews, is written in their peculiar
language. They, in their answer, complimented the king with their
good wishes, desired him to tell his dream, and undertook with all
possible assurance to interpret it, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.4" parsed="|Dan|2|4|0|0" passage="Da 2:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. But the king insisted upon it that
they must tell him the dream itself, because he had forgotten it
and could not tell it to them. And, if they could not do this, they
should all be put to death as deceivers (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.5" parsed="|Dan|2|5|0|0" passage="Da 2:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), themselves <i>cut to pieces</i>
and <i>their houses made a dunghill.</i> If they could, they should
be rewarded and preferred, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.6" parsed="|Dan|2|6|0|0" passage="Da 2:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. And they knew, as Balaam did concerning Balak, that
he was able to <i>promote them to great honour,</i> and give them
that <i>wages of unrighteousness</i> which, like him, <i>they
loved</i> so dearly. No question therefore that they will do their
utmost to gratify the king; if they do not, it is not for want of
good-will, but for want of power, Providence so ordering it that
the magicians of Babylon might now be as much confounded and put to
shame as of old the magicians of Egypt had been, that, how much
soever his people were both in Egypt and Babylon vilified and made
contemptible, his oracles might in both be magnified and made
honourable, by the silencing of those that set up in competition
with them. The magicians, having reason on their side, insist upon
it that the king must tell them the dream, and then, if they do not
tell him the interpretation of it, it is their fault, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.7" parsed="|Dan|2|7|0|0" passage="Da 2:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. But arbitrary power is
deaf to reason. The king falls into a passion, gives them hard
words, and, without any colour of reason, suspects that they could
tell him but would not; and instead of upbraiding them with
impotency, and the deficiency of their art, as he might justly have
done, he charges them with a combination to affront him: <i>You
have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me.</i> How
unreasonable and absurd is this imputation! If they had undertaken
to tell him what his dream was, and had imposed upon him with a
sham, he might have charged them with lying and corrupt words; but
to say this of them when they honestly confessed their own weakness
only shows what senseless things indulged passions are, and how apt
great men are to think it is their prerogative to pursue their
humour in defiance of reason and equity, and all the dictates of
both. When the magicians begged of him to tell them the dream,
though the request was highly rational and just, he tells them that
they did but dally with him, to gain time (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.9" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.8" parsed="|Dan|2|8|0|0" passage="Da 2:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), <i>till the time be changed</i>
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.10" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.9" parsed="|Dan|2|9|0|0" passage="Da 2:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), either till
the king's desire to know his dream be over, and he grown
indifferent whether he be told it or no, though now he is so hot
upon it, or till they may hope he has so perfectly forgotten his
dream (the remaining shades of which are slipping from him apace as
he catches at them) that they may tell him what they please and
make him believe it was his dream, and, when the thing which is
going, is quite <i>gone from him,</i> as it will be in a little
time, he will not be able to disprove them. And therefore, without
delay, they must tell him the dream. In vain do they plead, 1. That
there is <i>no man on earth</i> that can retrieve the king's dream,
<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.11" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.10" parsed="|Dan|2|10|0|0" passage="Da 2:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. There are
settled rules by which to discover what the meaning of the dream
was; whether they will hold or no is the question. But never were
any rules offered to be given by which to discover what the dream
was; they cannot work unless they have something to work upon. They
acknowledge that the gods may indeed <i>declare unto man what is
his thought</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.12" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.13" parsed="|Amos|4|13|0|0" passage="Am 4:13">Amos iv.
13</scripRef>), for God <i>understands our thoughts afar off</i>
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.2" parsed="|Ps|139|2|0|0" passage="Ps 139:2">Ps. cxxxix. 2</scripRef>), what they
will be before we think them, what they are when we do not regard
them, what they have been when we have forgotten them. But those
who can do this are gods, that <i>have not their dwelling with
flesh</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.14" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.11" parsed="|Dan|2|11|0|0" passage="Da 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
and it is they alone that can do this. As for men, their
<i>dwelling is with flesh;</i> the wisest and greatest of men are
clouded with a veil of flesh, which quite obstructs and confounds
all their acquaintance with spirit, and their powers and
operations; but the gods, that are themselves pure spirit, know
what is in man. See here an instance of the ignorance of these
magicians, that they speak of many gods, whereas there is but one
and can be but one infinite; yet see their knowledge of that which
even the light of nature teaches and the works of nature prove,
that there is a God, who is a Spirit, and perfectly knows the
spirits of men and all their thoughts, so as it is not possible
that any man should. This confession of the divine omniscience is
here extorted from these idolaters, to the honour of God and their
own condemnation, who though they knew there is a God in heaven,
<i>to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no
secret is hid,</i> yet offered up their prayers and praises to dumb
idols, that have <i>eyes and see not, ears and hear not.</i> 2.
That there is no king on earth that would expect or require such a
thing, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.15" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.10" parsed="|Dan|2|10|0|0" passage="Da 2:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. This
intimates that they were <i>kings, lords,</i> and
<i>potentates,</i> not ordinary people, that the magicians had most
dealings with, and at whose devotion they were, while the oracles
of God and the gospel of Christ are dispensed <i>to the poor.</i>
Kings and potentates have often required unreasonable things of
their subjects, but they think that never any required so
unreasonable a thing as this, and therefore hope his imperial
majesty will not insist upon it. But it is all in vain; when
passion is in the throne reason is under foot: He was <i>angry and
very furious,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p5.16" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.12" parsed="|Dan|2|12|0|0" passage="Da 2:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>. Note, It is very common for those that will not be
convinced by reason to be provoked and exasperated by it, and to
push on with fury what they cannot support with equity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p6" shownumber="no">III. The doom passed upon all the magicians
of Babylon. There is but <i>one decree for them all</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.9" parsed="|Dan|2|9|0|0" passage="Da 2:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); they all stand condemned
without exception or distinction. The decree has gone forth, they
must every man of them be slain (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.13" parsed="|Dan|2|13|0|0" passage="Da 2:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), Daniel and his fellows (though
they knew nothing of the matter) not excepted. See here, 1. What
are commonly the unjust proceedings of arbitrary power.
Nebuchadnezzar is here a tyrant in true colours, speaking death
when he cannot speak sense, and treating those as traitors whose
only fault is that they would serve him, but cannot. 2. What is
commonly the just punishment of pretenders. How unrighteous soever
Nebuchadnezzar was in this sentence, as to the ringleaders in the
imposture, God was righteous. Those that imposed upon men, in
pretending to do what they could not do, are now sentenced to death
for not being able to do what they did not pretend to.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.14-Dan.2.23" parsed="|Dan|2|14|2|23" passage="Da 2:14-23" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iii-p6.4">
<h4 id="Dan.iii-p6.5">The Dream Revealed to Daniel; Daniel's
Thanksgiving. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iii-p6.6">b. c.</span> 603.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iii-p7" shownumber="no">14 Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom
to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to
slay the wise <i>men</i> of Babylon:   15 He answered and said
to Arioch the king's captain, Why <i>is</i> the decree <i>so</i>
hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.15" parsed="|Dan|2|15|0|0" passage="Daniel. 2:15">Daniel.
2:15</scripRef> Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he
would give him time, and that he would show the king the
interpretation.   17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made
the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
  18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven
concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not
perish with the rest of the wise <i>men</i> of Babylon.   19
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then
Daniel blessed the God of heaven.   20 Daniel answered and
said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and
might are his:   21 And he changeth the times and the seasons:
he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the
wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:   22 He
revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what <i>is</i> in
the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.   23 I thank
thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me
wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired
of thee: for thou hast <i>now</i> made known unto us the king's
matter.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p8" shownumber="no">When the king sent for his wise men to tell
them his dream, and the interpretation of it (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.2" parsed="|Dan|2|2|0|0" passage="Da 2:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), Daniel, it seems, was not
summoned to appear among them; the king, though he was highly
pleased with him when he examined him, and thought him <i>ten
times</i> wiser than the rest of his wise men, yet forgot him when
he had most occasion for him; and no wonder, when all was done in a
heat, and nothing with a cool and deliberate thought. But
Providence so ordered it; that the magicians being nonplussed might
be the more taken notice of, and so the more glory might redound to
the God of Daniel. But, though Daniel had not the honour to be
consulted with the rest of the wise men, contrary to all law and
justice, by an undistinguishing sentence, he stands condemned with
them, and till he has notice brought him to prepare for execution
he knows nothing of the matter. How miserable is the case of those
who live under arbitrary government, as this of Nebuchadnezzar's!
How happy are we, whose lives are under the protection of the law
and methods of justice, and lie not thus at the mercy of a peevish
and capricious prince!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p9" shownumber="no">We have found already, in Ezekiel, that
Daniel was famous both for prudence and prayer; as a prince he had
power with God and by man; by prayer he had power with God, by
prudence he had power with man, and in both he prevailed. Thus did
he <i>find favour and good understanding</i> in the sight of both,
and in these verses we have a remarkable instance of both.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p10" shownumber="no">I. Daniel by prudence knew how to deal with
men, and he prevailed with them. When <i>Arioch, the captain of the
guard,</i> that was appointed to slay all the wise men of Babylon,
the whole college of them, seized Daniel (for the sword of tyranny,
like the sword of war, <i>devours one as well as another</i>), he
<i>answered with counsel and wisdom</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.14" parsed="|Dan|2|14|0|0" passage="Da 2:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); he did not fall into a passion,
and reproach the king as unjust and barbarous, much less did he
contrive how to make resistance, but mildly asked, <i>Why is the
decree so hasty?</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.15" parsed="|Dan|2|15|0|0" passage="Da 2:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>. And whereas the rest of the wise men had insisted
upon it that it was utterly impossible for him ever to have his
demand gratified, which did but make him more outrageous, Daniel
undertakes, if he may but have a little time allowed him, to give
the king all the satisfaction he desired, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.16" parsed="|Dan|2|16|0|0" passage="Da 2:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. The king, being now sensible of
his error in not sending for Daniel sooner, whose character he
began to recollect, was soon prevailed upon to respite the
judgment, and make trial of Daniel. Note, The likeliest method to
turn away wrath, even the wrath of a king, which is as the
messenger of death, is by a <i>soft answer,</i> by that yielding
which <i>pacifies great offences;</i> thus, though <i>where the
word of a king is there is power,</i> yet even that word may be
repelled, and that so as to be repealed; and so some read it here
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.14" parsed="|Dan|2|14|0|0" passage="Da 2:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>Then
Daniel returned,</i> and stayed <i>the counsel and edict, through
Arioch, the king's provost-marshal.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p11" shownumber="no">II. Daniel knew how by prayer to converse
with God, and he found favour with him, both in petition and in
thanksgiving, which are the two principal parts of prayer.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p12" shownumber="no">1. His humble petition for this mercy, that
God would discover to him what was the king's dream, and the
interpretation of it. When he had gained time he did not go to
consult with the rest of the wise men whether there was anything in
their art, in their books, that might be of use in this matter, but
<i>went to his house,</i> there to be alone with God, for from him
alone, who is the Father of lights, he expected this great gift.
Observe, (1.) He did not only pray for this discovery himself, but
he engaged his companions to pray for it too. He <i>made the thing
known</i> to those who had been all along his bosom-friends and
associates, requesting <i>that they would desire mercy of God
concerning this secret,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.17-Dan.2.18" parsed="|Dan|2|17|2|18" passage="Da 2:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. Though Daniel was
probably their senior, and every way excelled them, yet he engaged
them as partners with him in this matter, <i>Vis unita fortior—The
union of forces produces greater force.</i> See <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.4.16" parsed="|Esth|4|16|0|0" passage="Es 4:16">Esth. iv. 16</scripRef>. Note, Praying friends are
valuable friends; it is good to have an intimacy with and an
interest in those that have fellowship with God and an interest at
the throne of grace; and it well becomes the greatest and best of
men to desire the assistance of the prayers of others for them. St.
Paul often entreats his friends to pray for him. Thus we must show
that we put a value upon our friends, upon prayer, upon their
prayers. (2.) He was particular in this prayer, but had an eye to,
and a dependence upon, the general mercy of God: <i>That they would
desire the mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret,</i>
<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.18" parsed="|Dan|2|18|0|0" passage="Da 2:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. We ought in
prayer to look up to God as the <i>God of heaven,</i> a God above
us, and who has dominion over us, to whom we owe adoration and
allegiance, a God of power, who can do everything. Our savior has
taught us to pray to God as <i>our Father in heaven.</i> And,
whatever good we pray for, our dependence must be upon the
<i>mercies of God</i> for it, and an interest in those mercies we
must desire; we can expect nothing by way of recompence for our
merits, but all as the gift of God's mercies. They desired mercy
<i>concerning this secret.</i> Note, Whatever is the matter of our
care must be the matter of our prayer; we must desire mercy of God
concerning this thing and the other thing that occasions us trouble
and fear. God gives us leave to be humbly free with him, and in
prayer to enter into the detail of our wants and burdens. <i>Secret
things belong to the Lord our God,</i> and therefore, if there be
any mercy we stand in need of that concerns a secret, to him we
must apply; and, though we cannot in faith pray for miracles, yet
we may in faith pray to him who has all hearts in his hand, and who
in his providence does wonders without miracles, for the discovery
of that which is out of our view and the obtaining of that which is
out of our reach, as far as is for his glory and our good,
believing that to him nothing is hidden, nothing is hard. (3.)
Their plea with God was the imminent peril they were in; they
desired mercy of God in this matter, that so Daniel and his
<i>fellows might not perish with the rest of the wise men of
Babylon,</i> that the righteous might not be destroyed with the
wicked. Note, When the lives of good and useful men are in danger
it is time to be earnest with God for mercy for them, as for Peter
in prison, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.12.5" parsed="|Acts|12|5|0|0" passage="Ac 12:5">Acts xii. 5</scripRef>. (4.)
The mercy which Daniel and his fellows prayed for was bestowed. The
<i>secret was revealed unto Daniel</i> in a <i>night-vision,</i>
<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.19" parsed="|Dan|2|19|0|0" passage="Da 2:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Some think he
dreamed the same dream, when he was asleep, that Nebuchadnezzar had
dreamed; it should rather seem that when he was awake, and
continuing <i>instant in prayer,</i> and <i>watching in the
same,</i> the dream itself, and the interpretation of it, were
communicated to him by the ministry of an angel, abundantly to his
satisfaction. Note, The <i>effectual fervent prayer of righteous
men avails much.</i> There are mysteries and secrets which by
prayer we are let into; with that key the cabinets of heaven are
unlocked, for Christ has said, Thus <i>knock, and it shall be
opened unto you.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p13" shownumber="no">2. His grateful thanksgiving for this mercy
when he had received it: <i>Then Daniel blessed the God of
heaven,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.19" parsed="|Dan|2|19|0|0" passage="Da 2:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. He
did not stay till he had told it to the king, and seen whether he
would own it to be his dream or no, but was confident that it was
so, and that he had gained his point, and therefore he immediately
turned his prayers into praises. As he had prayed in a full
assurance that God would do this for him, so he gave thanks in a
full assurance that he had done it; and in both he had an eye to
God as the <i>God of heaven.</i> His prayer was not recorded, but
his thanksgiving is. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p14" shownumber="no">(1.) The honour he gives to God in this
thanksgiving, which he studies to do in a great variety and
copiousness of expression: <i>Blessed be the name of God for ever
and ever.</i> There is that <i>for ever</i> in God which is to be
blessed and praised; it is unchangeably and eternally in him. And
it is to be blessed <i>for ever and ever;</i> as the matter of
praise is God's eternal perfection, so the work of praise shall be
everlastingly in the doing. [1.] He gives to God the glory of what
he is in himself: <i>Wisdom and might are his, wisdom and
courage</i> (so some); whatever is fit to be done he will do;
whatever he will do he can do, he dares do, and he will be sure to
do it in the best manner, for he has infinite wisdom to design and
contrive and infinite power to execute and accomplish. <i>With him
are strength and wisdom,</i> which in men are often parted. [2.] He
gives him the glory of what he is to the world of mankind. He has a
universal influence and agency upon all the children of men, and
all their actions and affairs. Are the times changed? Is the
posture of affairs altered? Does every thing lie open to
mutability? It is God that <i>changes the times and the
seasons,</i> and the face of them. No change comes to pass by
chance, but according to the will and counsel of God. Are those
that were kings removed and deposed? Do they abdicate? Are they
laid aside? It is God that <i>removes kings.</i> Are the <i>poor
raised out of the dust,</i> to be <i>set among princes?</i> It is
God that <i>sets up kings;</i> and the making and unmaking of kings
is a flower of his crown who is the fountain of all power, <i>King
of kings and Lord of lords.</i> Are there men that excel others in
wisdom, philosophers and statesmen, that think above the common
rate, contemplative penetrating men? It is <i>God that gives wisdom
to the wise,</i> whether they be so wise as to acknowledge it or
no; they have it not of themselves, but it is he that <i>gives
knowledge to those that know understanding,</i> which is a good
reason why we should not be proud of our knowledge, and why we
should serve and honour God with it and make it our business to
know him. [3.] He gives him the glory of this particular discovery.
He praises him, <i>First,</i> For that he could make such a
discovery (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.22" parsed="|Dan|2|22|0|0" passage="Da 2:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>):
<i>He reveals the deep and secret things</i> which are hidden from
the eyes of all living. It was he that revealed to man what is true
wisdom when none else could (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.27-Job.27.28" parsed="|Job|27|27|27|28" passage="Job 27:27,28">Job
xxvii. 27, 28</scripRef>); it is he that reveals things to come to
his servants and prophets. He does himself perfectly discern and
distinguish that which is most closely and most industriously
concealed, for he will <i>bring into judgment every secret
thing;</i> the truth will be evident in the great day. He <i>knows
what is in the darkness,</i> and what is done in the darkness, for
that <i>hides not from him,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.11-Ps.139.12" parsed="|Ps|139|11|139|12" passage="Ps 139:11,12">Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12</scripRef>. <i>The light dwells
with him,</i> and he <i>dwells in the light</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.16" parsed="|1Tim|6|16|0|0" passage="1Ti 6:16">1 Tim. vi. 16</scripRef>), and yet, as to us, he
<i>makes darkness his pavilion.</i> Some understand it of the light
of prophecy and divine revelation, which dwells with God and is
derived from him; for he is the <i>Father of lights,</i> of all
lights; they are all at home in him. <i>Secondly,</i> For that he
had made this discovery to him. Here he has an eye to God as the
<i>God of his fathers;</i> for, though the Jews were now captives
in Babylon, yet they were <i>beloved for their father's sake.</i>
He praises God, who is the fountain of wisdom and might, for the
wisdom and might he had given him, wisdom to know this great secret
and might to bear the discovery. Note, What wisdom and might we
have we must acknowledge to be God's gift. <i>Thou hast made this
known to me,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.23" parsed="|Dan|2|23|0|0" passage="Da 2:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>. What was hidden from the celebrated Chaldeans, who
made the interpreting of dreams their profession, is revealed to
Daniel, a captive-Jew, a babe, much their junior. God would hereby
put honour upon the <i>Spirit of prophecy</i> just when he was
putting contempt upon the <i>spirit of divination.</i> Was Daniel
thus thankful to God for making known that to him which was the
saving of the lives of him and his fellows? Much more reason have
we to be thankful to him for making known to us the great salvation
of the soul, to us and <i>not to the world,</i> to us and <i>not to
the wise and prudent.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p15" shownumber="no">(2.) The respect he puts upon his
companions in this thanksgiving. Though it was by his prayers
principally that this discovery was obtained, and to him that it
was made, yet he owns their partnership with him, both in praying
for it (it is what <i>we desired of thee</i>) and in enjoying
it—Thou hast <i>made known unto us the king's matter.</i> Either
they were present with Daniel when the discovery was made to him,
or as soon as he knew it he told it them (<b><i>heureka,
heureka</i></b>—<i>I have found it, I have found it</i>), that
those who had assisted him with their prayers might assist him in
their praises; his joining them with him is an instance of his
humility and modesty, which well become those that are taken into
communion with God. Thus St. Paul sometimes joins Sylvanus,
Timotheus, or some other minister, with himself in the inscriptions
to many of his epistles. Note, What honour God puts upon us we
should be willing that our brethren may share with us in.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.24-Dan.2.30" parsed="|Dan|2|24|2|30" passage="Da 2:24-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iii-p15.2">
<h4 id="Dan.iii-p15.3">Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iii-p15.4">b. c.</span> 603.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iii-p16" shownumber="no">24 Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom
the king had ordained to destroy the wise <i>men</i> of Babylon: he
went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise <i>men</i> of
Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king
the interpretation.   25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before
the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of
the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the
interpretation.   26 The king answered and said to Daniel,
whose name <i>was</i> Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known
unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation
thereof?   27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and
said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise
<i>men,</i> the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show
unto the king;   28 But there is a God in heaven that
revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what
shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head
upon thy bed, are these;   29 As for thee, O king, thy
thoughts came <i>into thy mind</i> upon thy bed, what should come
to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to
thee what shall come to pass.   30 But as for me, this secret
is not revealed to me for <i>any</i> wisdom that I have more than
any living, but for <i>their</i> sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the
thoughts of thy heart.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p17" shownumber="no">We have here the introduction to Daniel's
declaring the dream, and the interpretation of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p18" shownumber="no">I. He immediately bespoke the reversing of
the sentence against the wise men of Babylon, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.24" parsed="|Dan|2|24|0|0" passage="Da 2:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. He went with all speed to
Arioch, to tell him that his commission was now superseded:
<i>Destroy not the wise men of Babylon.</i> Though there were those
of them perhaps that deserved to die, as magicians, by the law of
God, yet here that which they stood condemned for was not a crime
worth of death or of bonds, and therefore let them not die, and be
<i>unjustly destroyed,</i> but let them live, and be justly shamed,
as having been nonplussed and unable to do that which a prophet of
the Lord could do. Note, Since God shows common kindness to the
evil and good, we should do so too, and be ready to save the lives
of even bad men, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.45" parsed="|Matt|5|45|0|0" passage="Mt 5:45">Matt. v.
45</scripRef>. A good man is a common good. To Paul in the ship God
gave the souls of all that sailed with him; they were saved for his
sake. To Daniel was owing the preservation of all the wise men, who
yet rendered not according to the benefit done to them, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.8" parsed="|Dan|3|8|0|0" passage="Da 3:8"><i>ch.</i> iii. 8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p19" shownumber="no">II. He offered his service, with great
assurance, to go to the king, and tell him his dream and the
interpretation of it, and was admitted accordingly, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.24-Dan.2.25" parsed="|Dan|2|24|2|25" passage="Da 2:24,25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. Arioch brought
him in haste to the king, hoping to ingratiate himself by
introducing Daniel; he pretends he had sought him to interpret the
king's dream, whereas really it was to execute upon him the king's
sentence that he sought him. But courtiers' business is every way
to humour the prince and make their own services acceptable.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p20" shownumber="no">III. He contrived as much as might be to
reflect shame upon the magicians, and to give honour to God, upon
this occasion. The king owned that it was a bold undertaking, and
questioned whether he could make it good (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.26" parsed="|Dan|2|26|0|0" passage="Da 2:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>Art thou able to make known
unto me the dream?</i> What! Such a babe in this knowledge, such a
stripling as thou are, wilt thou undertake that which thy seniors
despair of doing? The less likely it appeared to the king that
Daniel should do this the more God was glorified in enabling him to
do it. Note, In transmitting divine revelation to the children of
men it has been God's usual way to make use of the <i>weak and
foolish things</i> and persons <i>of the world,</i> and such as
were <i>despised</i> and despaired of, <i>to confound the wise and
mighty,</i> that the excellency of the power might be of him,
<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.27-1Cor.1.28" parsed="|1Cor|1|27|1|28" passage="1Co 1:27,28">1 Cor. i. 27, 28</scripRef>. Daniel
from this takes occasion, 1. To put the king out of conceit with
his magicians and soothsayers, whom he had such great expectations
from (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.27" parsed="|Dan|2|27|0|0" passage="Da 2:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>):
"<i>This secret they cannot show to the king;</i> it is out of
their power; the rules of their art will not reach to it. Therefore
let not the king be angry with them for not doing that which they
cannot do; but rather despise them, and cast them off, because they
cannot do it." Broughton reads it generally: "This secret <i>no
sages, astrologers, enchanters, or entrail-cookers, can show unto
the king;</i> let not the king therefore consult them any more."
Note, The experience we have of the inability of all creatures to
give us satisfaction should lessen our esteem of them, and lower
our expectations from them. They are baffled in their pretensions;
we are baffled in our hopes from them. Hitherto they come, and no
further; let us therefore say to them, as Job to his friends,
<i>Now you are nothing; miserable comforters are you all.</i> 2. To
bring him to the knowledge of the one only living and true God, the
God whom Daniel worshipped: "Though they cannot find out the
secret, let not the king despair of having it found out, for
<i>there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets,</i>" <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.28" parsed="|Dan|2|28|0|0" passage="Da 2:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Note, The insufficiency
of creatures should drive us to the all-sufficiency of the Creator.
<i>There is a God in heaven</i> (and it is well for us there is)
who can do that for us, and make known that to us, which none on
earth can, particularly the secret history of the work of
redemption and the secret designs of God's love to us therein, the
mystery which was <i>hidden from ages and generations;</i> divine
revelation helps us out where human reason leaves us quite at a
loss, and makes known that, not only to kings, but to the poor of
this world, which none of the philosophers or politicians of the
heathens, with all their oracles and arts of divination to help
them, could ever pretend to give us any light into, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.16.25-Rom.16.26" parsed="|Rom|16|25|16|26" passage="Ro 16:25,26">Rom. xvi. 25, 26</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p21" shownumber="no">IV. He confirmed the king in his opinion
that the dream he was thus solicitous to recover the idea of was
really well worth enquiring after, that it was of great value and
of vast consequence, not a common dream, the idle disport of a
ludicrous and luxuriant fancy, which was not worth remembering or
telling again, but that it was a divine discovery, a ray of light
darted into his mind from the upper world, relating to the great
affairs and revolutions of this lower world. God in it <i>made
known to the king what should be in the latter days</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.28" parsed="|Dan|2|28|0|0" passage="Da 2:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), that is, in the times
that were to come, reaching as far as the setting up of Christ's
kingdom in the world, which was to be <i>in the latter days,</i>
<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.1" parsed="|Heb|1|1|0|0" passage="Heb 1:1">Heb. i. 1</scripRef>. And again
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.29" parsed="|Dan|2|29|0|0" passage="Da 2:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): "<i>The
thoughts which came into thy mind</i> were not the repetitions of
what had been before, as our dreams usually are"—</p>
<verse id="Dan.iii-p21.4" type="stanza">
<l class="t1" id="Dan.iii-p21.5">Omnia quæ sensu volvuntur vota diurno</l>
<l class="t1" id="Dan.iii-p21.6">Tempore sopito reddit amica quies—</l>
<l class="t1" id="Dan.iii-p21.7"/>
<l class="t1" id="Dan.iii-p21.8">The sentiments which we indulge throughout the day</l>
<l class="t1" id="Dan.iii-p21.9">often mingle with the grateful slumbers of the night.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Dan.iii-p21.10"><span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iii-p21.11">Claudian</span>.  
   </attr>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p22" shownumber="no">"But they were predictions of <i>what
should come to pass hereafter,</i> which he that <i>reveals secrets
makes known unto thee;</i> and therefore thou art in the right in
taking the hint and pursuing it thus." Note, Things that are to
come to pass hereafter are secret things, which God only can
reveal; and what he has revealed of those things, especially with
reference to the last days of all, to the end of time, ought to be
very seriously and diligently enquired into and considered by every
one of us. Some think that the <i>thoughts</i> which are said to
have come into the king's mind upon his bed, what should come to
pass hereafter, were his own thoughts when he was awake. Just
before he fell asleep, and dreamed this dream, he was musing in his
own mind what would be the issue of his growing greatness, what his
kingdom would hereafter come to; and so the dream was an answer to
those thoughts. What discoveries God intends to make he thus
prepares men for.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p23" shownumber="no">V. He solemnly professes that he could not
pretend to have merited from God the favour of this discovery, or
to have obtained it by any sagacity of his own (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.30" parsed="|Dan|2|30|0|0" passage="Da 2:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>): "<i>But, as for me,</i> this
secret is not found out by me, but is <i>revealed to me,</i> and
that <i>not for any wisdom that I have more than any living,</i> to
qualify me for the receiving of such a discovery." Note, It well
becomes those whom God has highly favoured and honoured to be very
humble and low in their own eyes, to lay aside all opinion of their
own wisdom and worthiness, that God alone may have all the praise
of the good they are, and have, and do, and that all may be
attributed to the freeness of his good-will towards them and the
fulness of his good work in them. The secret was made known to him
not for his own sake, but, 1. For the sake of his people, for
<i>their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the
king,</i> that is, for the sake of his brethren and companions in
tribulation, who had by their prayers helped him to obtain this
discovery, and so might be said to make known the
interpretation—that their lives might be spared, that they might
come into favour and be preferred, and all the people of the Jews
might fare the better, in their captivity, for their sakes. Note,
Humble men will be always ready to think that what God does for
them and by them is more for the sake of others than for their own.
2. For the sake of <i>his prince;</i> and some read the former
clause in this sense, "Not for any wisdom of mine, <i>but that the
king may know the interpretation, and that thou mightest know the
thoughts of thy heart,</i> that thou mightest have satisfaction
given thee as to what thou wast before considering, and thereby
instruction given thee how to behave towards the church of God."
God revealed this thing to Daniel that he might make it known to
the king. Prophets receive that they may give, that the discoveries
made to them may not be lodged with themselves, but communicated to
the persons that are concerned.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.31-Dan.2.45" parsed="|Dan|2|31|2|45" passage="Da 2:31-45" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iii-p23.3">
<h4 id="Dan.iii-p23.4">Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
Interpreted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iii-p23.5">b. c.</span> 603.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iii-p24" shownumber="no">31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great
image. This great image, whose brightness <i>was</i> excellent,
stood before thee; and the form thereof <i>was</i> terrible.  
32 This image's head <i>was</i> of fine gold, his breast and his
arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,   33 His
legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.   34
Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which
smote the image upon his feet <i>that were</i> of iron and clay,
and brake them to pieces.   35 Then was the iron, the clay,
the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and
became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind
carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone
that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole
earth.   36 This <i>is</i> the dream; and we will tell the
interpretation thereof before the king.   37 Thou, O king,
<i>art</i> a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a
kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.   38 And wheresoever
the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of
the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler
over them all. Thou <i>art</i> this head of gold.   39 And
after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and
another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the
earth.   40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:
forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all
<i>things:</i> and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break
in pieces and bruise.   41 And whereas thou sawest the feet
and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the
iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
  42 And <i>as</i> the toes of the feet <i>were</i> part of
iron, and part of clay, <i>so</i> the kingdom shall be partly
strong, and partly broken.   43 And whereas thou sawest iron
mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of
men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not
mixed with clay.   44 And in the days of these kings shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and
the kingdom shall not be left to other people, <i>but</i> it shall
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever.   45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut
out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the
iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God
hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and
the dream <i>is</i> certain, and the interpretation thereof
sure.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p25" shownumber="no">Daniel here gives full satisfaction to
Nebuchadnezzar concerning his dream and the interpretation of it.
That great prince had been kind to this poor prophet in his
maintenance and education; he had been brought up at the king's
cost, preferred at court, and the land of his captivity had hereby
been made much easier to him than to others of his brethren. And
now the king is abundantly repaid for all the expense he had been
at upon him; and for receiving this prophet, though not in the name
of a prophet, he had a prophet's reward, such a reward as a prophet
only could give, and for which that wealthy mighty prince was now
glad to be beholden to him. Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p26" shownumber="no">I. The dream itself, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.31 Bible:Dan.2.45" parsed="|Dan|2|31|0|0;|Dan|2|45|0|0" passage="Da 2:31,45"><i>v.</i> 31, 45</scripRef>. Nebuchadnezzar perhaps
was an admirer of statues, and had his palace and gardens adorned
with them; however, he was a worshipper of images, and now behold a
<i>great image</i> is set before him in a dream, which might
intimate to him what the images were which he bestowed so much cost
upon, and paid such respect to; they were mere dreams. The
creatures of fancy might do as well to please the fancy. By the
power of imagination he might shut his eyes, and represent to
himself what forms he thought fit, and beautify them at his
pleasure, without the expense and trouble of sculpture. This was
the image of a man erect: <i>It stood before him,</i> as a living
man; and, because those monarchies which were designed to be
represented by it were admirable in the eyes of their friends, the
<i>brightness</i> of this image <i>was excellent;</i> and because
they were formidable to their enemies, and dreaded by all about
them, the <i>form</i> of this image is said to be <i>terrible;</i>
both the features of the face and the postures of the body made it
so. But that which was most remarkable in this image was the
different metals of which it was composed—the <i>head of gold</i>
(the richest and most durable metal), the <i>breast and arms of
silver</i> (the next to it in worth), the <i>belly and sides (or
thighs) of brass,</i> the <i>legs of iron</i> (still baser metals),
and lastly the feet <i>part of iron and part of clay.</i> See what
the things of this world are; the further we go in them the less
valuable they appear. In the life of a man youth is a head of gold,
but it grows less and less worthy of our esteem; and old age is
half clay; a man is then <i>as good as dead.</i> It is so with the
world; later ages degenerate. The first age of the Christian
church, of the reformation, was a head of gold; but we live in an
age that is iron and clay. Some allude to this in the description
of a hypocrite, whose practice is not agreeable to his knowledge.
He has a head of gold, but feet of iron and clay: he knows his
duty, but does it not. Some observe that in Daniel's visions the
monarchies were represented by four beasts (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.7.1-Dan.7.28" parsed="|Dan|7|1|7|28" passage="Da 7:1-28"><i>ch.</i> vii.</scripRef>), for he looked upon that
wisdom from beneath, by which they were turned to be earthly and
sensual, and a tyrannical power, to have more in it of the beast
than of the man, and so the vision agreed with his notions of the
thing. But to Nebuchadnezzar, a heathen prince, they were
represented by a gay and pompous image of a man, for he was an
admirer of the <i>kingdoms of this world and the glory of them.</i>
To him the sight was so charming that he was impatient to see it
again. But what became of this image? The next part of the dream
shows it to us calcined, and brought to nothing. He saw a stone cut
out of the quarry by an unseen power, without hands, and this stone
fell upon the <i>feet of the image,</i> that were of <i>iron and
clay,</i> and <i>broke them to pieces;</i> and then the image must
fall of course, and so the gold, and silver, and brass, and iron,
were all broken to pieces together, and beaten so small that they
became like the <i>chaff of the summer threshing-floors,</i> and
there were not to be found any the least remains of them; but the
stone <i>cut out of the mountain</i> became itself a <i>great
mountain, and filled the earth.</i> See how God can bring about
great effects by weak and unlikely causes; when he pleases a
<i>little one shall become a thousand.</i> Perhaps the destruction
of this image of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, might be
intended to signify the abolishing of idolatry out of the world in
due time. The <i>idols of the heathen are silver and gold,</i> as
this image was, and <i>they shall perish from off the earth and
from under these heavens,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.11 Bible:Isa.2.18" parsed="|Jer|10|11|0|0;|Isa|2|18|0|0" passage="Jer 10:11,Isa 2:18">Jer. x. 11; Isa. ii. 18</scripRef>. And
whatever power destroys idolatry is in the ready way to magnify and
exalt itself, as this stone, when it had broken the image to
pieces, became a great mountain.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p27" shownumber="no">II. The interpretation of this dream. Let
us now see what is the meaning of this. It was from God, and
therefore from him it is fit that we take the explication of it. It
should seem, Daniel had his fellows with him, and speaks for them
as well as for himself, when he says, <i>We will tell the
interpretation,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.36" parsed="|Dan|2|36|0|0" passage="Da 2:36"><i>v.</i>
36</scripRef>. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p28" shownumber="no">1. This image represented the kingdoms of
the earth that should successively bear rule among the nations and
have influence on the affairs of the Jewish church. The four
monarchies were not represented by four distinct statues, but by
one image, because they were all of one and the same spirit and
genius, and all more or less against the church. It was the same
power, only lodged in four different nations, the two former lying
eastward of Judea, the two latter westward. (1.) The <i>head of
gold</i> signified the Chaldean monarchy, which was now in being
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.37-Dan.2.38" parsed="|Dan|2|37|2|38" passage="Da 2:37,38"><i>v.</i> 37, 38</scripRef>):
<i>Thou, O king! art</i> (or rather, <i>shalt be</i>) <i>a king of
kings,</i> a universal monarch, to whom many kings and kingdoms
shall be tributaries; or, Thou art the <i>highest of kings</i> on
earth at this time (as a <i>servant of servants</i> is the meanest
servant); thou dost outshine all other kings. But let him not
attribute his elevation to his own politics or fortitude. No; it is
<i>the God of heaven</i> that has <i>given thee a kingdom, power,
and strength, and glory,</i> a kingdom that exercises great
authority, stands firmly, and shines brightly, acts by a puissant
army with an arbitrary power. Note, The greatest of princes have no
power but what is given them from above. The extent of his dominion
is set forth (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.38" parsed="|Dan|2|38|0|0" passage="Da 2:38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>),
that <i>wheresoever the children of men dwell,</i> in all the
nations of that part of the world, he was <i>ruler over them
all,</i> over them and all that belonged to them, all their cattle,
not only those which they had a property in, but those that were
<i>feræ naturæ</i>—<i>wild,</i> the <i>beasts of the field</i> and
<i>the fowls of the heaven.</i> He was lord of all the woods,
forests, and chases, and none were allowed to hunt or fowl without
his leave. Thus "<i>thou art the head of gold;</i> thou, and thy
son, and thy son's son, for seventy years." Compare this with
<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.9 Bible:Jer.25.11" parsed="|Jer|25|9|0|0;|Jer|25|11|0|0" passage="Jer 25:9,11">Jer. xxv. 9, 11</scripRef>,
especially <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.27.5-Jer.27.7" parsed="|Jer|27|5|27|7" passage="Jer 27:5-7">Jer. xxvii.
5-7</scripRef>. There were other powerful kingdoms in the world at
this time, as that of the Scythians; but it was the kingdom of
Babylon that reigned over the Jews, and that began the government
which continued in the succession here described till Christ's
time. It is called a <i>head,</i> for its wisdom, eminency, and
absolute power, a head of <i>gold</i> for its wealth (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.4" parsed="|Isa|14|4|0|0" passage="Isa 14:4">Isa. xiv. 4</scripRef>); it was a golden city.
Some make this monarchy to begin in Nimrod, and so bring into it
all the Assyrian kings, about fifty monarchs in all, and compute
that it lasted above 1600 years. But it had not been so long a
monarchy of such vast extent and power as is here described, nor
any thing like it; therefore others make only Nebuchadnezzar,
Evil-merodach, and Belshazzar, to belong to this <i>head of
gold;</i> and a glorious high throne they had, and perhaps
exercised a more despotic power than any of the kings that went
before them. Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-five years current,
Evil-merodach twenty-three years current, and Belshazzar three.
Babylon was their metropolis, and Daniel was with them upon the
spot during the seventy years. (2.) The <i>breast and arms of
silver</i> signified the monarchy of the Medes and Persians, of
which the king is told no more than this, <i>There shall arise
another kingdom inferior to thee</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.6" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.39" parsed="|Dan|2|39|0|0" passage="Da 2:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>), not so rich, powerful, or
victorious. This kingdom was founded by Darius the Mede and Cyrus
the Persian, in alliance with each other, and therefore represented
by two arms, meeting in the breast. Cyrus was himself a Persian by
his father, a Mede by his mother. Some reckon that this second
monarchy lasted 130 years, others 204 years. The former computation
agrees best with the scripture chronology. (3.) The <i>belly and
thighs of brass</i> signified the monarchy of the Grecians, founded
by Alexander, who conquered Darius Codomannus, the last of the
Persian emperors. This is the <i>third kingdom, of brass,</i>
inferior in wealth and extent of dominion to the Persian monarchy,
but in Alexander himself it shall by the power of the sword <i>bear
rule over all the earth;</i> for Alexander boasted that he had
conquered the world, and then sat down and wept because he had not
another world to conquer. (4.) The <i>legs and feet of iron</i>
signified the Roman monarchy. Some make this to signify the latter
part of the Grecian monarchy, the two empires of Syria and Egypt,
the former governed by the family of the Seleucidæ, from Seleucus,
the latter by that of the Lagidæ, from Ptolemæus Lagus; these they
make the two legs and feet of this image: Grotius, and Junius, and
Broughton, go this way. But it has been the more received opinion
that it is the Roman monarchy that is here intended, because it was
in the time of that monarchy, and when it was at its height, that
the kingdom of Christ was set up in the world by the preaching of
the everlasting gospel. The Roman kingdom was strong as iron
(<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.40" parsed="|Dan|2|40|0|0" passage="Da 2:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>), witness the
prevalency of that kingdom against all that contended with it for
many ages. That kingdom <i>broke in pieces</i> the Grecian empire
and afterwards quite destroyed the nation of the Jews. Towards the
latter end of the Roman monarchy it grew very weak, and branched
into ten kingdoms, which were as the toes of these feet. Some of
these were weak as clay, others strong as iron, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.8" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.42" parsed="|Dan|2|42|0|0" passage="Da 2:42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>. Endeavours were used to unite
and cement them for the strengthening of the empire, but in vain:
<i>They shall not cleave one to another,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p28.9" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.43" parsed="|Dan|2|43|0|0" passage="Da 2:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>. This empire divided the
government for a long time between the senate and the people, the
nobles and the commons, but they did not entirely coalesce. There
were civil wars between Marius and Sylla, Cæsar and Pompey, whose
parties were as iron and clay. Some refer this to the declining
times of that empire, when, for the strengthening of the empire
against the irruptions of the barbarous nations, the branches of
the royal family intermarried; but the politics had not the desired
effect, when the day of the fall of that empire came.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p29" shownumber="no">2. The stone <i>cut out without hands</i>
represented the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which should be set up in
the world in the time of the Roman empire, and upon the ruins of
Satan's kingdom in the <i>kingdoms of the world.</i> This is <i>the
stone cut out of the mountain without hands,</i> for it should be
neither raised nor supported by human power or policy; no visible
hand should act in the setting of it up, but it should be done
invisibly by the <i>Spirit of the Lord of hosts.</i> This was <i>the
stone which the builders refused,</i> because it was not cut out by
their hands, but it has now become the <i>head-stone of the
corner.</i> (1.) The gospel-church is a kingdom, which Christ is
the sole and sovereign monarch of, in which he rules by his word
and Spirit, to which he gives protection and law, and from which he
receives homage and tribute. It is a kingdom <i>not of this
world,</i> and yet set up in it; it is the kingdom of God among
men. (2.) The <i>God of heaven</i> was to set up this kingdom, to
give authority to Christ to execute judgment, to set him as <i>King
upon his holy hill of Zion,</i> and to bring into obedience to him
a willing people. Being set up by the God of heaven, it is often in
the <i>New Testament</i> called the <i>kingdom of heaven,</i> for
its original is from above and its tendency is upwards. (3.) It was
to be set up <i>in the days of these kings,</i> the kings of the
fourth monarchy, of which particular notice is taken (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.1" parsed="|Luke|2|1|0|0" passage="Lu 2:1">Luke ii. 1</scripRef>), That Christ was born when,
by the decree of the emperor of Rome, <i>all the world was
taxed,</i> which was a plain indication that that empire had become
as universal as any earthly empire ever was. When these kings are
contesting with each other, and in all the struggles each of the
contending parties hopes to find its own account, God will do his
own work and fulfil his own counsels. <i>These kings</i> are all
enemies to Christ's kingdom, and yet it shall be set up in defiance
of them. (4.) It is a kingdom that knows no decay, is in no danger
of destruction, and will not admit any succession or revolution. It
shall <i>never be destroyed</i> by any foreign force invading it,
as many other kingdoms are; fire and sword cannot waste it; the
combined powers of earth and hell cannot deprive either the
subjects of their prince or the prince of his subjects; nor shall
this <i>kingdom be left to other people,</i> as the kingdoms of the
earth are. As Christ is a monarch that has no successor (for he
himself shall reign for ever), so his kingdom is a monarchy that
has no revolution. The kingdom of God was indeed taken from the
Jews and given to the Gentiles (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.43" parsed="|Matt|21|43|0|0" passage="Mt 21:43">Matt.
xxi. 43</scripRef>), but still it was Christianity that ruled, the
kingdom of the Messiah. The Christian church is still the same; it
is fixed on a rock, much fought against, but never to be prevailed
against, by the gates of hell. (5.) It is a kingdom that shall be
victorious over all opposition. It shall <i>break in pieces and
consume all those kingdoms,</i> as the <i>stone cut out of the
mountain without hands</i> broke in pieces the image, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p29.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.44-Dan.2.45" parsed="|Dan|2|44|2|45" passage="Da 2:44,45"><i>v.</i> 44, 45</scripRef>. The kingdom of
Christ shall <i>wear out</i> all other kingdoms, shall outlive
them, and flourish when they are sunk with their own weight, and so
wasted that their place <i>knows them no more.</i> All the kingdoms
that appear against the kingdom of Christ shall be broken with a
<i>rod of iron,</i> as a <i>potter's vessel,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p29.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.9" parsed="|Ps|2|9|0|0" passage="Ps 2:9">Ps. ii. 9</scripRef>. And in the kingdoms that submit to
the kingdom of Christ tyranny, and idolatry, and every thing that
is their reproach, shall, as far as the gospel of Christ gets
ground, be broken. The day is coming when Jesus Christ shall have
<i>put down all rule, principality, and power,</i> and have made
<i>all his enemies his footstool;</i> and then this prophecy will
have its full accomplishment, and not till then, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p29.5" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.24-1Cor.15.25" parsed="|1Cor|15|24|15|25" passage="1Co 15:24,25">1 Cor. xv. 24, 25</scripRef>. Our savior seems to
refer to this (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p29.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.44" parsed="|Matt|21|44|0|0" passage="Mt 21:44">Matt. xxi.
44</scripRef>), when, speaking of himself as the stone set at
nought by the Jewish builders, he says, <i>On whomsoever</i> this
stone <i>shall fall, it will grind him to powder.</i> (6.) It shall
be an everlasting kingdom. Those kingdoms of the earth that had
<i>broken in pieces</i> all about them at length came, in their
turn, to be in like manner broken; but the kingdom of Christ shall
break other kingdoms in pieces and shall itself <i>stand for
ever.</i> His throne shall be as the days of heaven, his seed, his
subjects, as the stars of heaven, not only so innumerable, but so
immutable. Of the <i>increase</i> of Christ's <i>government and
peace</i> there shall be <i>no end. The Lord shall reign for
ever,</i> not only to the end of time, but when time and days shall
be no more, and God <i>shall be all in all</i> to eternity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p30" shownumber="no">III. Daniel having thus interpreted the
dream, to the satisfaction of Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him no
interruption, so full was the interpretation that he had no
question to ask, and so plain that he had no objection to make, he
closes all with a solemn assertion, 1. Of the divine original of
this dream: <i>The great God</i> (so he calls him, to express his
own high thoughts of him, and to beget the like in the mind of this
great king) has <i>made known to the king what shall come to pass
hereafter,</i> which the gods of the magicians could not do. And
thus a full confirmation was given to that great argument which
Isaiah had long before urged against idolaters, and particularly
the idolaters of Babylon, when he challenged the gods they
worshipped to <i>show things that are to come hereafter, that we
may know that you are gods</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.23" parsed="|Isa|41|23|0|0" passage="Isa 41:23">Isa.
xli. 23</scripRef>), and by <i>this</i> proved the God of Israel to
be the true God, that he <i>declares the end from the
beginning,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.10" parsed="|Isa|46|10|0|0" passage="Isa 46:10">Isa. xlvi.
10</scripRef>. 2. Of the undoubted certainty of the things foretold
by this dream. He who makes known these things is the same that has
himself designed and determined them, and will by his providence
effect them; and we are sure that <i>his counsel shall stand,</i>
and cannot be altered, and therefore <i>the dream is certain and
the interpretation thereof sure.</i> Note, Whatever God has made
known we may depend upon.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iii-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.46-Dan.2.49" parsed="|Dan|2|46|2|49" passage="Da 2:46-49" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iii-p30.4">
<h4 id="Dan.iii-p30.5">Nebuchadnezzar's Honours
Daniel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iii-p30.6">b. c.</span> 603.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iii-p31" shownumber="no">46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his
face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer
an oblation and sweet odours unto him.   47 The king answered
unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth <i>it is,</i> that your God
<i>is</i> a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of
secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.   48 Then
the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts,
and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of
the governors over all the wise <i>men</i> of Babylon.   49
Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but
Daniel <i>sat</i> in the gate of the king.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iii-p32" shownumber="no">One might have expected that when
Nebuchadnezzar was contriving to make his own kingdom everlasting
he would be enraged at Daniel, who foretold the fall of it and that
another kingdom of another nature should be the everlasting
kingdom; but, instead of resenting it as an affront, he received it
as an oracle, and here we are told what the expressions were of the
impressions it made upon him. 1. He was ready to look upon Daniel
as a little god. Though he saw him to be a man, yet from this
wonderful discovery which he had made both of his secret thoughts,
in telling him the dream, and of things to come, in telling him the
interpretation of it, he concluded that he had certainly a divinity
lodged in him, worthy his adoration; and therefore he <i>fell upon
his face and worshipped Daniel,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.46" parsed="|Dan|2|46|0|0" passage="Da 2:46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>. It was the custom of the country
by prostration to give honour to kings, because they have something
of a divine power in them (<i>I have said, You are gods</i>); and
therefore this king, who had often received such veneration from
others, now paid the like to Daniel, whom he supposed to have in
him a divine knowledge, which he was so struck with an admiration
of that he could not contain himself, but forgot both that Daniel
was a man and that himself was a king. Thus did God magnify divine
revelation <i>and make it honourable,</i> extorting from a proud
potentate such a veneration but for one glimpse of it. He
<i>worshipped Daniel,</i> and <i>commanded that they should offer
an oblation to him,</i> and burn incense. Herein he cannot be
justified, but may in some measure be excused, when Cornelius was
thus ready to worship Peter, and John the angel, who both knew
better. But, though it is not here mentioned, yet we have reason to
think that Daniel refused these honours that he paid him, and said,
as Peter to Cornelius, <i>Stand up, I myself also am a man,</i> or,
as the angel to St. John, <i>See thou do it not;</i> for it is not
said that the oblation was offered unto him, though the king
commanded it, or rather <i>said it,</i> for so the word is. He
said, in his haste, <i>Let an oblation be offered to him.</i> And
that Daniel did say something to him which turned his eyes and
thoughts another way is intimated in what follows (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.47" parsed="|Dan|2|47|0|0" passage="Da 2:47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>), <i>The king answered
Daniel.</i> Note, It is possible for those to express a great
honour for the ministers of God's word who yet have no true love
for the word. <i>Herod feared John,</i> and <i>heard him
gladly,</i> and yet went on in his sins, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.3" osisRef="Bible:Mark.6.20" parsed="|Mark|6|20|0|0" passage="Mk 6:20">Mark vi. 20</scripRef>. 2. He readily acknowledged the
God of Daniel to be the great God, the true God, the only living
and true God. If Daniel will not suffer himself to be worshipped,
he will (as Daniel, it is likely, directed him) <i>worship God,</i>
by confessing (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.47" parsed="|Dan|2|47|0|0" passage="Da 2:47"><i>v.</i>
47</scripRef>), <i>Of a truth your God is a God of gods,</i> such a
God as there is no other, above all gods in dignity, over all gods
in dominion. He is a Lord <i>of kings,</i> from whom they derive
their power and to whom they are accountable; and he is both a
discoverer and a <i>revealer of secrets;</i> what is most secret he
sees and can reveal, and what he has revealed is what was secret
and which none but himself could reveal, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.5" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.10" parsed="|1Cor|2|10|0|0" passage="1Co 2:10">1 Cor. ii. 10</scripRef>. 3. He preferred Daniel, made
him a great man, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.6" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.48" parsed="|Dan|2|48|0|0" passage="Da 2:48"><i>v.</i>
48</scripRef>. God made him a great man indeed when he took him
into communion with himself, a greater man than Nebuchadnezzar
could make him; but, because God had magnified him, therefore the
king magnified him. Does wealth make men great? The king <i>gave
him many great gifts;</i> and he had no reason to refuse them, when
they all put him into so much the greater capacity of doing good to
his brethren in captivity. These gifts were grateful returns for
the good services he had done, and not aimed at, nor bargained for,
by him, as the rewards of divination were by Balaam. Does power
make a man great? He made him <i>ruler over the whole province of
Babylon,</i> which no doubt had great influence upon the other
provinces; he made him likewise chancellor of the university,
<i>chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon,</i> to
instruct those whom he had thus outdone; and, since they could not
do what the king would have them do, they shall be obliged to do
what Daniel would have them do. Thus it is fit that the <i>fool
should be servant to the wise in heart.</i> Seeing Daniel <i>could
reveal this secret</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.47" parsed="|Dan|2|47|0|0" passage="Da 2:47"><i>v.</i>
47</scripRef>), the king thus advanced him. Note, It is the wisdom
of princes to advance and employ those who receive divine
revelation, and are much conversant with it, who, as Daniel here,
show themselves to be well acquainted with the kingdom of heaven.
Joseph, like Daniel here, was advanced in the court of the king of
Egypt for his interpreting his dreams; and he called him
<i>Zaphnath-paaneah—a revealer of secrets,</i> as the king of
Babylon here calls Daniel; so that the preambles to their patents
of honour are the same—for, and in consideration of, their good
services done to the crown in <i>revealing secrets.</i> 4. He
preferred his companions for his sake, and upon his special
instance and request, <scripRef id="Dan.iii-p32.8" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.49" parsed="|Dan|2|49|0|0" passage="Da 2:49"><i>v.</i>
49</scripRef>. Daniel himself <i>sat in the gate of the king,</i>
as president of the council, chief-justice, or prime-minister of
state, or perhaps chamberlain of the household; but he used his
interest for his friends as became a good man, and procured places
in the government for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those that
helped him with their prayers shall share with him in his honours,
such a grateful sense had he even of that service. The preferring
of them would be a great stay and help to Daniel in his place and
business. And these pious Jews, being thus preferred in Babylon,
had great opportunity of serving their brethren in captivity, and
of doing them many good offices, which no doubt they were ready to
do. Thus, sometimes, before God brings his people into trouble, he
prepares it, that it may be easy to them.</p>
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