John Gill, Exposition of the Whole Bible

T © Te Chaise gee

afterwards obferves, has a very peculiar regard to the prefent affair, for which his heart was warm> with gratitude and thankfulnefs.

¥. 21. And he changeth the times and the feafons,

be alone, and to feek the Lord in fecret: and made &c.] Not only of day and night, fummer end win- the thing known to Hananiab, Mifhael, and Azariab bis companions, who either dwelt in the fame houfe with him, or ngt far off; whom he fent for and acquainted with all that had pafied, both between the king and the wife men, and the confequence of that, and between him and the king, and what promife he had made, relying on his God and theirs.

¥. 18. That they would defire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this fecret, &c.] His view in fending for them, and informing them of this whole affair, was to engage them in prayer to God with him; even to that God that made the heaven, and dwells there, and is above all, and fees and knows what is done in earth, and rules both in heaven and in earth according to his will; to intreat his mercy, whofe mercies are manifold, and not, plead any merits of their own; and that he ter, and times and feafons of profperity and adverfity; but all the changes and revolutions in ftates and kingdoms, in all times and ages, are from him; and particularly thofe pointed at in the following dream, in the Babylonian, Perfian, Grecian, and Roman monarchies: he removeth kings, and Jetteth up kings; he is King of kings, and Lord of lords; by him they reign, and continue on their thrones, as long as he pleafes; and then he removes them by death or otherwife, and places others in their ftead; and who are fometimes raifed from a low eftate; and this he does in the ordinary courfe of providence; fee P/- Ixxv. 6, 7. and particularly Dawiel might have: in view the removal of the Babylonian monarchs, and fetting up kings of the race of the Medes and Perfians; and then the degrading them, and advancing the Grecians to the height of monarchy; and then reducing of would in compaffion to them, and the lives of them, and raifing the Romans to a greater degree others that were in danger, make known this {fe- of power and authority; and at laft crufhing them cret of the king’s dream, and the interpretation of all in their turns, to make way for the kingdom it; which could never be found out by the fagacity of men, or by any art they are matters of: this Daniel requefted of them, as knowing that it was their duty and intereft, as well as his, to unite in prayer unto God on this account, and that the joint and fervent prayer of righteous men avails much with him: ¢that Daniel and his fellows fhould not perifo with the reft of the wife men of Babylon; which they were in danger of: this was the mercy they. were to implore, being in diftrefs, and this the intereft they had in this affair; a ftrong argument to induce them to it. ¥. 19. Then was the fecret revealed unto Daniel in a night-vifion, &c.] That is, after Daniel and his companions had importunately fought the Lord by prayer; the fecret of the king’s dream, and the interpretation of it, were made known to Daniel, and to him only; he being the perfon defigned in providence to be raifed to great honour and dignity by means of it; this was done either the fame night, or the night following, and, as fome think, in a dream, and that he dreamed the fame dream Nebuchadnezzar did, which he remembred, tho’ the king forgot it; or however, the fame image was reprefented to him, whether fleeping or waking, and the meaning of it given him: shen Daniel bleffed the God of heaven; gave thanks to him, that he had heard his prayer, and indulged him in his requeft; which thankfgiving, bleffing, or praife, is exprefied in the following words: ¥. 20. Daniel anfwered and faid, &c.] That is, he began his prayer, as Yacchiades obferves, or his thankigiving, and exprefled it in the following manner: dleffed be the name of God for ever and ever; a form of blefling God, or a wifh that he nay be blefied by men for evermore; for there is that in his name, in his nature, in his perfections, and in his works, which require that praife be given him now, and to all eternity: for wi/dom and might are his; wifdom in forming the fcheme of things, and might or power in the execution of them; «wi/dom in revealing the fecret of the dream to Daniel, and might to accomplifh the various events predicted in it: for what Daniel here and of his Son: be giveth wifdom to the wife, and knowledge to them that know underflanding; an increafe, of wifdom and knowledge, to wife politicians and countellors of ftate, ‘to form wife fchemes of peace or war, to make wife laws, and govern kingdoms in a prudent manner; and to wile mafter-builders or minifters of the word, to fpeak the wifdom of God in a myftery, to diffufe the knowledge of Chrift every where, and make known the myfteries of grace to the fons of men; particularly to Daniel and his companions, who were wife and knowing men, the interpretation of the king’s dream.

¥. 22. He revealeth the deep and fecret things, &c.] The purpofes of his own heart, which are the deep things of God, and the fecrets that belong to him, and which are opened in providence by the execution of them; the arcana imperii, or fecrets. of ftate, committed to men defigned for government; the fecrets or myfteries of grace, the deep things of the gofpel, made known to gofpelminifters; and particularly the deep and impenetrable fecret of the king’s dream, and the interpretation of it, revealed to Daniel: he knoweth what is in the darknefs; the actions of men committed in. darknefs; the fchemes that are drawn: in the privy-councils and cabinets of princes;. yea, the. thoughts of mens hearts, which lie in the utmoft recefles of them, as well as their dreams in the night-feafon; and particularly this of the king’s, and which muft have been buried in darknefs, had he not revealed it: and the light dwelleth with him; he is light itfelf, and the Father of lights; the light of nature, grace, and glory is with him, and from him; the light of the word, the light of prophecy, and the light of the glorious. gofpel; and alfo the light of the world, the fun of righteoufnefs, the Meffiah; and of him fome of the an+— cient ews interpret this paflage. R. Aba Serus gia”, mentioning this paflage, and the tight della with him, adds, this is the king Meffiah,-as. it is —— faid, arife, fhine, &cc. and his commentator 1 obferves, that the fenfe of it is, he (God) retains the Meffiah with himfelf, and does not fend him forth

| rag 9 Auttor Yade Mofch in ib, unto us; fee Pf. xliii. 3. and elfewhere ', in anfwer to the queftion, what is the name of the Meffiah? among others, this is faid, his name is light, as itis faid, and the light dwelleth with him; and this is a name that is often given to Chrift, and he takes to himfelf in the New Teftament; fee Fokn i. 7, 8, 9. and iii. 19. and viii. 12. and ix. 5. and xii. 35, 46. where he is called the /gdt, that light, the true light, and the light of the world; as he is both of Fews and Gentiles, even of all his people throughout the world: indeed, the light of nature, which every man has, is from him, as the creator of all; and the light of grace, and the increafe of it, which any are favoured with, is given by him; andall the light of knowledge in divine things, and of fpiritual joy and comfort, beams from him the fun of righteoufnefs: the light of the latter day, which will be fo very great, as to be as the light of feven days, and to make the fun and moon unneceffary in a figurative fenfe, will be owing to him; ‘as well as all that light of life and glory, the faints fhall poffefs to all eternity, will be communicated thro’ him: and Chrift, who is this light, dwells with God; he who is the fame with the divine word, was with God, and dwells with him to all eternity; in the fulnefs of time this word.or light was made flefh, or was clothed with it, and dwelt with men; when it was, that he came a light into the world, of which he often fpeaks, and having done his work, afcended to heaven, and now dwells with God in human nature; and will come again, and dwell with men on earth a thoufand years, when he will be the light of the new Ferufalem-ftate; and after that, will take his people with him to heaven, and dwell with God, and they with him for evermore. This fhows, that this light, or the divine Jogos, is a perfon diftiné from God the Father, with whom he dwells; that he is an eternal one, God never being without this light and word; and that he is an abiding light to his faints, and will be for evermore.

y. 23. Ithank thee, and praife thee, O thou God of my fathers, &c.|. His remote anceftors, Abraham, Ifaac, and Facob, and more near progenitors, to whom God had made promifes, and revealed his fecrets in time paft, and ftill continued his favours to Daniel; for which he was abundantly thankful, and owned and confeffed the goodnefs of God to him, and praifed him on account of it: who haft given me wifdom and might, or flrength*, courage and fortitude of mind, to go in to the king when in his fury, to promife to fhew his dream, and the interpretation of it; and ftrength of faith in prayer to God to obtain it, and who gave him svifdom to know it: Facchiades interprets this might of power to fave his own, life, and the life of others: and baft made known unto me now, what we defired of thee; for tho” it was only made known to Daniel, yet it was in confequence of the united prayers of him and his companions, to which he afcribes it; which fhows his great modefty and humility, ‘not to attribute it to his own prayer, and the intereft he had in God, as a God hearing prayer: for thou haft now made known unto us the king’s matter; or word which he required of the wife men, namely, his dream, and the interpretation of it 5 this being made known to Damiel, he’ communicated it to his friends.

¥. 24. Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, &c.] Into his apartments at court, or wherever he was in queft of the wife men, of which Dawiél had knowledge; this he did as foon as the fecret was revealed to him, though not before he had given - thanks to God: whom the king had ordained to de- Stroy the wife men of Babylon; this is a defcription of Arioch, from the office affigned him by king Nebuchadnézzar, who had appointed him to fee this his will and pleafure accomplifhed:. be went and faid thus unto him, deftrey not the wife men of Babylon, that is, do not go on to deftroy them, for fome he had deftroyed; this Daniel faid, not from any fpecial love he bore them, tho’ fome of them might have been his preceptors in the language and literature of the Chaldeans, and fo he might have a natural affection for them, and indeed might fay this out of common humanity; but this did not arife from any love he had to their wicked arts, which he abhorred, but from love of Juftice; for however wicked thefe men might be, or however deferving of death on other accounts, yet not on this account, for not doing what was impoffible for them to do: dring me in before the king, and I will foew unto the king the interpretation that is, of the dream, and that itfelf: by this it feems that Daniel, as yet, was not fo well known at court, nor of fo much efteem and authority there, as to go in to the king of himfelf, but needed one to introduce him; and which confirms what has been fuppofed on ¥. 16.

¥. 25. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in hafte, &c.] As knowing how impatient the king was, to have his dream, and the interpretation of it, told him; and how pleafing this would be to him, and be a means of ingratiating and eftablifhing him in his affections,-as well as for the fake of faving the lives of the wife men: and faid thus unto bim, I have found a man of the captives of ‘Fudab: as if he had made it his bufinefs to enquire after a man capable of anfwering the king’s demands; whereas he fought after Daziel at firft, not for this purpofe, but to deftroy him; and now Daniel made his application to him for introduétion to the king, and was not looked after by Arioch; ‘but he here did, as courtiers do, make the moft of every thing to their own advantage, to infinuate themfelves into the favour of princes: it looks by this, as if Arioch did not know of Daniel’s having been with the king before, and of the promife he had made him; that granting him time, he would fatisfy him in the matter requefted, which he was now ready to do, as he had told Arioch; and therefore he adds, that will make known unto the king the interpretation, that is, of his dream.

y¥. 26. The king anfwered and faid to Daniel, | whofe name was Beltefhazzar, &c.] The name given him by the prince of the eunuchs, ch. i. 7. and by which he was known to Nebuchadnezzar, and very likely he called him now by this name, which is the reafon of its being mentioned: art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have feen, and the interpretation thereof? this he faid, either as doubting and queftioning, or as admiring that one fo young fhould be able to do that, which his feniors, the wife men in Babylon, could not do; or he put this queftion, as impatient to hear what he mutt fucceffors he fhould have in it; and how it would continue, and what would be the ot it; when he fell afleep upon this, and had a dream agreeable to his waking thoughts: and be that revealeth fecrets, a periphrafis of the God of heavens as in the preceding verfe: maketh known unto thee what foall come to pafs; this he did by the dream he gave him, tho’ he had forgot it; and now by reftoring that, and the interpretation of it, by Daniel, eam

¥. 30. But es for me, &c.] As to the part I have in this affair, I can afcribe nothing to myfelf; it is all owing to the God of heaven, the recovery of the dream, and its interpretation: +his fecret is not revealed to me, for any wifdom that I have more than any living; not that he thought, or affirmed that he had, more wifdom than any man living, as the Vulgate Latin verfion, and others fuggelt;— but as the king might think he had, by revealing this fecret to him, and that it was owing to that; but that he had not fuch wifdom, and whatever he had, which was the gift of God, it was not thro’ that, or any fagacity and penetration into things he was mafter of, fuperior to others, that it was revealed to him; and therefore would not have it placed to any fuch account, this he faid in great modetty, and in order to fet the king right, and that God might have all the glory: dué for their Jakes that fball make known the interpretation to the king; meaning not only himfelf, and his companions concerned with him, that they might be promoted to honour and dignity, but the whole body of the Yews in captivity, with which they were in connexion; that they might meet with more civil and kind treatment, for the fake of the God they worfhipped, who revealed this fecret to the king; or, but that they might make known, &c*. the three perfons in the Godhead, as fome; the angels, as others; the minifters of God, as Aden Ezra: or rather it may be rendered imperfonally, but that the interpretation might be made known to the king ¥, as by the Vulgate Latin, as it follows: and that thou mighteft know the thoughts of thy heart; both what they were, which were forgotten, and the meaning of them.

¥. 31. Thou, O king, faweft, &c.| Or, waft feeing 7; not with the eyes of his body, but in his fancy and imagination; as he was dreaming, he thought he faw fuch an appearance, fo it feemed to him, as follows: and bebold a great image; or, one great image*; not painted, but a mafly flatue made of various metals, as is afterwards declared; fuch, tho’ not fo large as this, as the king had been ufed to fee, which he had in his garden and palace, and which he worfhipped; but this was of a monttrous fize, a perfect colofilis, and but one, tho’ it confifted of various parts; it was in the form of a great man, as Saadiab and Facchiades obferve; and reprefented the feveral monarchies of this world governed by men; and thefe being expreffed by an image, shew how vain and delufory, thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, which foould come to pafs hereafter;

‘either fleeping or waking, very probably the latter, his thoughts were employed about this great monarchy he had ereéted, and what would be the how frail and tranfitory, are the kingdoms of the as he lay on his bed, ‘earth, and the glory of them: shis great i whofe drightne/s was excellent, flood before thee, right overagainft him, and near him, as he thought; fo that he had a full view of it, and fawit at its full muft expect fro him, whether the performance of his promife, or fuch an anfwer as the wife men had given him, y¥. 27. Daniel anfwered in the prefence of the king, &c.] Boldly, and without fear: and faid, the fecret which the king hath demanded, fo he calls it, to fhow that it was fomething divine, which came from God, and could only be revealed by him, and was not to be found out by any art of man: carnot the wife men the. aftrologers, the magicians, the foothfayers fhew unto the king, this he premifes to the revelation of the fecret, not only to obferve the unreafonablenefs of the king’s demand upon them, and the injuftice of putting men to death for it; but that the difcovery of the whole might appear to be truly divine, and God might have all the glory; it being what no clafs of men whatever could ever have made known unto him. The jaft word, rendered /ooth/ayers", is not ufed before; the Septuagint verfion leaves it untranflated, and calls them Gazarenes; and fo Saadiah fays, it is the name of a nation or people fo called;_ but Farchi takes them to be a fort of men that had confederacy with devils: the word fignifies fuch that cut into parts, as the foothfayers, who cut up creatures, and looked into their entrails, and by them made their judgment of events; or as the aftrologers, who cut and divide the heavens into parts, and by them divine future things; or determine, as Facchiades fays, what fhall befal men; for the word is ufed alfo in the fenfe of determining or decreeing; hence Saadiah fays, fome interpret it of princes, who by their words determine the affairs of kingdoms: by fome it is rendered, fatalifs “, who declare to men what their fate will be; but neither of thefe could fhew this fecret to the king.

y¥. 28. But there is a God in heaven that revealeth fecreis, &c.] By this Daniel meant to inform the king, that there was but one God, in oppofition to the notion of polytheifm, that obtained among the heathens; that this one God is in heaven, and prefides over all perfons and things on earth; and that to him alone belongs the revelation of fecrets, and not to heathen gods, or to any magician, aftrologer, &¢. and of this kind was the king’s dream, a fecret impenetrable by men: aud maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar, what fhall be in the latter days; in the latter days of his monarchy, which fhould be fubverted, and fucceeded by another; and in ages after that, during the Perfan, Grecian, and Roman monarchies; and in the days of: the Meffiah, even in the latter of his days: shy dream, and the vifions of thy head upon thy bed, are thefe; which were of God, and of great importance; and that the king might obferve it, Daniel introduces thefe words with what goes before, and fays what follows:

¥. 29. As for thee, O king, &c.] So far as thou haft any concern in this matter, or with refpedct to thee, the following was thy cafe; thefe the circumftances and fituation in which thou wert; thy iffue of it; and was very defirous of knowing what length and bignefs, and its. dazzling luftre, arifing ——

* "73 fectores, Cocceius, Gejerus. Fatidici, Manfter, Tigurine verfion; qui de homine determinant hoc, vel illo modo ipfi eventurum effe, Jacchiades. x pyr 7nd fed ut notificarent, Pagninus, Montanus’; indicent, ¥ Sed ut interpretatio regi manifefta fieret, V. ln co fine ut indicetur, De Dieu. 7 SAM Pin videns from the various metals of gold, filver, brafs, and iron it was made of; which was exceeding bright, and made it look very majeftic: and the form thereof was terrible, either there was fomething in the countenance menacing and horrid; or the whole form being fo gigantic, ftruck the king with admiration, and was even terrible to him; and it may denote the terror that kings, efpecially arbitrary and defpotic ones, ftrike their fubjeéts with.,

¥. 32. This image’s head was of fine gold, &c.] The prophet begins with the fuperior part of this image, and defcends to the lower, becaufe of the order and condition of the monarchies it reprefents: this fignifies the Babylonian monarchy, as afterwards explained; called the ead, being the firft and chief of the monarchies; and compared to fine gold, becaufe of the glory, excellency, and duration of it: his breaft and bis arms of filver, its two arms, including its hands and its breaft, to which they were joined, were of filver, a metal of lefs value than gold; defigning the monarchy of the Medes and Perfians, which are the two arms, and which centred in Cyrus, who was by his father a Perfian, by his mother a Mede; and upon whom, after his uncle’s death, the whole monarchy devolved: his belly and his thighs of brafs, a bafer metal ftill; this points at the Macedonian or Grecian monarchy, fet up by Alexander, fignified by the Jelly, for intemperance and luxury; as the two thighs denote his principal fucceffors, the Seleucide and Lagide, the Syrian and Egyptian kings; and thefe of brafs, becaufe of the founding fame of them, as Yerom.

¥. 33. His legs of iron, &c.] A coarfer metal than the former, but very ftrong; and defigns the ftrong and Nees monarchy of the Romans, the Jaft of the four monarchies, governed chiefly by two confuls; and was divided, in the times of Theodofius, into the eaftern and weftern empire, which may be fignified by the two legs: bis feet part of iron, and part of clay; or, fome of them of iron, and fome of them of clay», that is, the ten toes of the feet, which reprefent the ten kingdoms the weftern empire was divided into, fome of which were potent, others weak; for this cannot be underftood of the fame feet and toes, being a mixture, compofed partly of one, and partly of the other; fince iron and clay will not mix together, y¥. 43. and will not agree with the form of expreflion. Yerom interprets this part of the vifion of the image to the fame fenfe, who lived about the time when it was fulfilling, for in his days was the irruption of the barbarous nations into the empire; who often fpeaks of them in his writings ¢, and of the Remaz empire being in a weak and ruinous condition on the account of them. His comment on this text is this, “¢ the fourth king- “ dom, which clearly belongs to the Romans, is *¢ the iron that breaks and fubdues all things; but his feet and toes are partly iron, and partly clay, which is moft manifeftly verified at this time; for as in the beginning nothing was ftronger and harder than the Roman empire, fo in the end of things nothing weaker; when both in civil wars, and againft divers nations, we ftand in need of the help of other barbarous people.” And whereas he had been blamed for giving this fenfe of the paflage, he vindicates himfelf elfewhere by faying “, “ if, in the expofition of the image, “* and the difference of its feet and toes, I interpret the iron and clay of the Roman kingdom, which the fcripture fore-fhews fhould be firft ftrong, and then weak, let them not impute it to me, but to the prophet; for fo we muft not flatter princes, as that the truth of the holy {criptures fhould be neglected; nor is the general difputation of one perfon an injury;” that is, of any great moment to the government,

¥. 34. Thou faweft, till that a fione was cut out without hands, &c.| Or, waft feeing ©; the king continued looking upon the image that ftood be-: fore him, as he thought, as long as he could fee it, till he faw a fone; an emblem of,the Meffiah, as it often is in fcripture, Gen, xlix. 24. Pf. cxviii. 22. If, viii. 14. and xxviii. 16. Zech. iii. 8. becaufe of his ftrength, firmnefs, and duration; and fo it is interpreted here by many Fewz#/h writers ancient and modern, as well as by chriftians; and alfo of his kingdom, or of him in his kingly office; fee ¥. 44. In an ancient book ‘of theirs, written by R. Simeon Ben Fochai, the author interprets this ftone, cut out of the mountain without hands, to be the fame with him, who in Gen. xlix. 24. is called the fhepherd and ftone of J/rae/; as it is by Saadiah Gaon, a later writer: and in an~ other of their writings ®, reckoned by them very ancient, it is faid, that the ninth king (for they fpeak of ten) fhall be the king Meffiah, who fhall reign from one end of the world to the other, according to that paflage, the flone which fmote the image, &c. ¥. 35. and in one of their ancient Midrajbes* or expofitions, it is interpreted of the king Meffiah: and fo R. Abraham Seba‘, on thofe words, from thence is the fhepherd, the ftone of Ifrael, Gen. xlix. 24. obferves, the king Meffiah does not come but by the worthinefs of ‘facob, as it is faid, thou faweft, till that ftone cut out without bands, becaufe of Facob. ‘This is faid to be cut out without hands, that is, the hands of men, as Saadiah and Facchiades explain it; not cut out by workmen, as ftones ufually are out of quarries; but was taken out by an unfeen hand, and by invifible power, even purely divine: this may point at the wondrous incarnation of Chrift, who was made of a woman, of a virgin without the help of a man, by the power of God; fee Hed. viii. 2. and ix. 11. and at his kingdom, which was like a fingle ftone at firft, very fmall, and was cut out and feparated from the world, and fet up and maintained, not by human, but divine power, and being of a fpiritual nature, 2 Cor. v. 1. Col. ii. 11: which fmote the image upon bis feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces; this feems to reprefent this image as in a plain, when from a mountain hanging over it, a ftone is taken by an invifible hand, and rolled upon it; which falling on its feet, breaks them to pieces, and in courfe the whole ftatue falls, and is broken to fhivers; this refpects what is yet to be done in the latter day, when Chrift will take to himfelf his great power, and reign, and fubdue and deftroy the ten kings or kingdoms that are given to antichrift, and him himfelf, and the remainder of the feveral monarchies, and in which they will all end.

yr. 35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brafs, the fiver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, &c.

The feet, the bafis of the image, being broken, the whole body of it fell, and with its own weight was broken to pieces; an emblem this of the utter diffolution of all the monarchies and kingdoms of the earth, fignified by. thefe feveral metals: and became like the chaff of the fummer threfhing floors which is exceeding {mall and light: and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them, for the feveral metals, and the monarchies fignified by them, which were no more:’ the allufion is to the manner of winnowing corn in the eaftern countries upon mountains, when the chaff was carried away by the wind, and feen no more: and the ftone that Jmote the image became a great mountain, and filed the earth; Chrift’s kingdom, from fall beginnings, has increafed, and will more and more, until the whole earth is fubject to it: this began to have its accomplifhment in the firft times of the gofpel, efpecially when the Roman empire, as pagan, was deftroyed by Conjtantine, and the kingdom of Chrift was fet up in it; and it received a further accomplifhment at the time of the Reformation, when Rome papal had a deadly blow given it, and the gofpel of Chrift was {pread in feveral nations and kingdoms; but it will receive it¢ full accomplifhment, when both the eaftern and weftern antichrifts fhall be deftroyed, and the kingdoms of this world fhall become the Lord’s and his Chrift’s, Rev. xi. 15.

¥. 36. This is the dream, &c.| Which Neduchadnezzar dreamed, but had forgot, and was now punctually and exactly made known to him; for the truth of which he is appealed unto; for no doubt, by this account, the whole of his dream, and every circumftance of it, were brought to his mind: and we will tell the interpretation thereof 2efore the king; for tho’ both the dream, and the interpretation of it, were only revealed to Daniel; yet he joins his companions with him, partly becaufe they were now prefent, and chiefly becaufe they were affifting to him in prayer for it.

¥. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings, &c.] Having many kings fubjecét and tributary to him, or would have; as the kings of Fudabh, Ammon, Mcab, and others, and who were even his captives and prifoners; fee Fer. li. 32. archi and Saadiab join this with the next claufe, the God of heaven, and interprets it of him thus, thou, O king Neduchadnezzar, the King of kings, who is the God of heaven, hath given unto thee, &c. fo fome in the Talmud underftand it of God *; but this is contrary to the accents: for the God of heaven bath given thee a kingdom, power, and firength, and glory; that is, a very powerful, ftrong, and glorious kingdom, famous for its mighty armies, ftrong fortrefles, and great riches, from all which the king had great honour and glory; and this he had not by his anceftors, or his own military fkill and prowe(fs, but by the favour and gift of God.

¥. 38. And wherefoever the children of men dwell, &c.] Not in every part of the habitable world, but in every part of his large dominion inhabited by men: the deajls of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, all parks, chafes, and forefts, fo that none might hunt or hawk without his permiffion, as well as the perfons and habitations of men, were at his difpofe; flewing the defpotic power and fovereign fway he had over his fubje&ts: and bath made thee ruler over all men, beafts, and fowl: he not only conquered the Egyptians, Tyrians, and Fews, and other nations about them; but according to Megaj/thenes', he exceeded Hercules in ftrength, and conquered Lybia and Iberia, and carried colonies of them into” Pontus; and as Strabo™ fays, carried his arms as far as the pillars of Hercules: thou art this bead of gold; or who was reprefented by the golden head of the image he had feen in his dream; not he perfonally only, but his fucceffors Evil-Meredach and Belhazzar, and the Babylonifh monarchy, as: poffefled by them; for this refers not back to the Afprian monarchy, from the time of Nimrod, but. to its more flourifhing condition in Nebuchadnezzar and his fons; called an head, becaufe the firft of the monarchies; and golden, in comparifon of other kingdoms then in being, and becaufe of the riches.

of it, which the Babylonians were. covetous of; hence Babylon is called the golden city, Jf xiv. 4. and it may be, becaufe not fo wicked and eruel to the Fews as the after monarchies were: from hence the poets have been thought by fome to have taken their notion of the golden, filver, and iron ages, as growing worfe and worfe; but this diftinétion is oblerved by Hefiod, who lived many years before this vifion was feen.

¥. 39. And after thee fhall arife another ongdons;

inferior to thee, &c.] This is the kingdom of the Medes and Perfians, fignified by the breafts and arms of filver, an inferior metal to gold; this rofe up, not immediately after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, but after his fuccefiors, when Belhazzar his grandfon was flain, and Babylon taken by Cyrus; now tho’ this. monarchy was as large at the firft as the Badylonifh monarchy, nay larger, as it had Media and Perfia added to it, new conquetts made by Cyrus, and was as rich and as opulent in his times; yet in after-reigns it funk much, in its peace and profperity, grandeur and glory, as in the times of Camby/es and the Magi; and efpecially in the reigns of Cyrus the younger, and of Artawerxes Mnemon, and at laft ceafed in Darius Codomannus, conquered by Alexander; and was worle than the former monarchy, being more cruel under fome of its princes to the people of the Fews: and another tbird kingdom of brajs; this is the Grecian monarchy, which fucceeded the Perfian, and therefore called the third kingdom, and is fignified by the belly and thighs of brafs of the image. fee the note on ¥. 32: which fhall bear rule over all the earth; not the land of J/rael, as Saadiah reftrains it, but the whole world, as Alexander did, at leaft. in his own opinion; who thought he had conquered the whole world, and wept becaufe there was not another to conquer; and it is certain he did fubdue a great part of it. Fuflin® fays, * that

‘“* when he was returning to Badylon from the ut- —

“< termoft fhores of the fea, it was told him, that ‘* the embaffies of the Carthaginians and other ci- ** ties of Africa, and alfo of Spain, Sicily, Francey

Sardinia, and fome out of Italy, were waiting

** for his coming; the terror of his name fo ftruck.. *¢ the whole world, that all nations complimented ** him as their king deftined for them,” And Pliny. reports ° of Macedonia, that “* it formerly “¢ (that is, in the times of d/exander) governed the “« world; this (fays he) pafled over d/a, tidy “< Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Loria ‘* rus, and Cauca/us; this ruled over the ‘ 7. wvhea 5 Hg _ ™ Geograph, 1 15. 47

“* Medes and. Perfians, poflefling the whole eaft; ** this alfo was conqueror of Judia.” verfe; together, as is affirmed in the latter part of the but as fome of thefe toes were of iron; and

_ X40. And the fourth kingdom jhall be firong as iron, &c.| This is not the kingdom of the Laide and Seleucide, the fucceflors of Aleander, as jome have thought; for thefe are defigned by the thighs. in the third kingdom; and befides, the kingdom of Chrift was to arife in the time of this fourth kingdom, which it did-not in that;, nor, the kingdom of Gog, or the empire of the Turks, as Saadiah, Aben Ezra, and Jarchi,; but the Roman empire, which is compared to iron for its ftrength, firmnefs and duration in itfelf; and for its power over other nations; and alfo for its cruelty to, the Jews above all others, in. utterly deftroying their city, temple and nation; forafmuch as irom breaketh in pieces, and. fubdueth all things. fo this kingdom has fubdued. and conquered; all others; not. the Jews only, but the Pexfians, Egyptians, Syrians, Africans, French, Germans, yea all the world » and 4s, iver that breaketh, or even as iron breaketh all thefe, foall it break in pieces, and bruife; all nations and kingdoms; hence Rome has been’ called the miftrefs of the world, and: its empire in fcripture is called the, whole world, Luke ii. 1. fee. Rev. XVil. 18.0 | ¥. 41. Aad whereas thou faweft the feet and toes, part of potters chay, and part of iron, &e.} ‘That is, fome. of the toes of the feet were of iron, and others of them of clay: thefe ¢oes, which are ten, as the toes of men are, defign the ten kings or kingdoms, into which the weftern Roman empire was divided, by. the coming in of the Goths, and Hunns, and Vandals into it; and are the fame:with the ten horns of the beaft, and the ten kings which gave their kingdoms to it, Rev. xiii. 1, and xvii. 12, 13,17. fee, the notes there, and on Dez, vii. 24. fome.of which were {trong like iron, and continued long; others were like clay, and. of.a-lefs duration:, the kingdom fhall be, divided, which fome underftand,of the divifion of. it into the eaftern and weftern,empires; but rather it means the divifion of the latter into the ten kingdoms, fet up in it by the barbarous nations. dbarbinel.and Facchiades interpret it ofthe Reman empire being divided into Mabometans and Chriftians, very wrongly.: but there foall be in it of the firength of the iron, forafmuch.as thou faweft the iron, mixt with miry clay4, notwithttanding this irruption andoinundation, of thenorthern nations into the empire 5: yet it {till retained fomething of the ftrength and. power of the; old: Romans, which, were, mingled ‘among thofe barbarous, nations, comparable to miry clay. y. 42. And as the toes of the feet were part of ivon,. ond part of clay, &cj.. Or fome of them. of iron, and.fo were ftrong and. powerful, as fome of chele kingdoms were; and fome of -clay, and) fo were weal and, eafily crufhed, and did»not ftand long: f0,,¢be. kingdom fhall, be partly firongy: and partly: broken, this, isnot, unfitly interpreted:by fome of the ewofold power-which has prevailed. in thefe, ten, kingdoms, thro’,the,policy.of ithe pope of +. Pai the fecular and ecclefiaftic- power;. the latter often incroaching. upon, and prevailing ‘over the other, which has tended to the weakening: of thefe fates. | | reftof the kingdoms and their “ndays fhall {pring up the branch of the: fon of ‘© David; as it is faid, im the aays of -thefe' kings,” 8c. and both Farchi and: Aben Ezra interpret this kingdom of the kingdom of the Meffiah’; “and fo Facchiades,.a much later writer, fays, the laft king~ dom is that of the Meffiah and'another modern \Fewsowriter fays ', in the time of the king Mef= fiah there fhall be but one kingdom, and" but one king; and this the king,.the true Meffiah;»but the kirigs fhallnot fabfift be hecA2s imhis time; as it is written, in the days of the/e kings, by M4 2 tnd. saharcasst be fawep iron. mixt with 2 &ee.. which kingdom is no other than his church wi ion‘earth, where he reigns; has his throne; holds others of clay, or fome part of them were iron, and fome. part of them, of clay, they /hall mingle themfelves with the feed. of men; the Romans thall mix with people of.other) and many nations that fhall. come in among, them, and: unite in fetting up kingdoms; or thele. kingdoms fet up fhailinter-) marry with each other, in order to ftrengthen their alliances, and fupport their interefts: thus Frence; Spain, Portugal, and) other hations 5, thofe of the royal families marry with each other, with fuch views): but they fhall not cleave one to another, event as iron is not mixed with clay, and yet thefe ties of! marriage and of blood, fhall not caufe them to cleave: to, and abide. by one another; but ambiition and worldly intereits will engage them:to take part with» each others enemies, orto: goto. war with,one another, to the weakening and: hurting each. other; and thus the potfherds of the: earth \will. dafh one another to pieces; and thofe who aremore powerful like the iron, will trample the weaker like miry clay! under their feet.

Wi. 4.4. And in the days of thefé kings; 8c.) Not of the Babylonian, Perfian,. and Grecian kings; nor indeed of the old Romam kings or emperors; but in the days of thefe ten kings or kingdoms, into jwhich the.Roman empire is divided, fignified by the ten toes, of different power and ftrength. In deed the: kingdom of:Chrift: began to be fet up in the times of dugufius Cefar, under whom Chrift was born;:and of Tiverius, under whom he was crucified;. and was continued and increafed in the reigns. of others, until it obtained very much in! the times of Conftantine; and after it fuffered:a diminution under. thes papacy, was’ revived at the reformation; but will not-be fet up.in its glory, until Chrift has overcome the ten kings or king= doms, and put it into:their hearts to hate aid ‘burn the antichriftian whore; and. when fhe and all the!antichriftian ftates will be deftroyed by the’ pouring out of the vials: and then in their days hall the God of beavew fet up a kingdom which fhalt never be deftroyed, this is the kingdom of the’Mef=' ifiah, as is owned -by both» ancient and modern | Fews + fo it is faid in an ancient: book?:of theirs,’ “« in the time of the king Meffiah J/rael-thall’ be “< one nation in the earth, and one: people to the «holy bleffed God;.as tit is written, ia the days << of thefe kings fhall the God of heaven fet up @ ‘© kingdom,” 8c. andin another of their writings *, efteemed very ancient,’ it is faid, ‘* the J bmaelites

‘¢ fhall'do fifteen things in the earth im the laft “© days; the laft of which mentioned is, they thall ‘* erect an edifice:inthe temple; at length two “¢ brothers ‘fhall rife up againft them, | and’ in their

+) &C.] That/is, iron among» the clay; otherwife iron and clay will not mix and cement forth his fceptre; gives out his laws, and is obeyed: and tho’ this is already in the world, yet it is not fo vifible, ftable and glorious, as it will. be at the clofe of the fourth monarchy, which is meant by its being fet up, confirmed and eftablifhed; and this will be done by the God of heaven, the maker and pofleffor of it, and who dwells in it, and rules there, and over all the earth; and therefore Chrift’s

Ch. 11. i A after prophecy, are faid {till to live, tho* their dominion is taken away, ch. vii. 12. the fame nations are in being, tho’ not as monarchies, and have not the fame denomination, and are in other hands; now thefe, and whatfoever kingdoms fhall exift, when this fhall be fet up, fhall be either broke to pieces, and utterly deftroyed, or become fubject to it; fee 1 Cor. xv. 24: and it foall fland church or kingdom is often called the kingdom of for ever; throughout time in this world, and to heaven; and when it is thus eftablifhed, it will ever remain vifible; its glory will be no more eclipfed; and much lefs fubverted and overthrown, by all the powers of earth and hell. Chrift was fet up as king from everlafting, ‘and the elect of God were appointed and given him as a kingdom as early; and in and over thefe he reigns by his Spirit and grace in time, when they are effectually called and brought into fubjection to. him; thefe are governed by Jaws of his making; he is owned by them as their lord.and king, and they yield a ready and chearful obedience to his commands, and he protects and defends them from their enemies; and fuch a kingdom Chrift has always had from the beginning of the world: but there was a particular time in which it was to be fet up in a more vifible and glorious manner: it was fet up in the days of his flefh on earth, tho’ it came not with obfervation, or was attended with outward pomp and grandeur, it being fpiritual and not of this world; upon his afcenfion to heaven it appeared greater; he was made or declared Lord and Chrift, and his gofpel was fpread every where: in the times of Con/tantine it was {till more glorious, being further extended, and enjoying great peace, liberty and profperity: in the times of popifh darknefs, a ftop was put to the progrefs of it, and it was reduced into a narrow compafs; at the reformation there was a frefh breaking of it out again, and it got ground in the world: in the fpiritual reign it will be reftored, and much more increafed, thro’ the gofpel being preached, and churches fet up every where; and Chrift’s kingdom will then be more extenfive; it will be from fea to fea, and from the river to the ends of the earth; it will be more peaceable and profperous; there will be none to annoy and do hurt to the fubjects of it; it will be no more fubjeét to changes and revolutions, but will be in a firm and ftable condition; it will be eftablifhed upon the top of the mountains, and be more vifible and glorious, which is here meant by its being fet up; efpecially this will be the cafe in the millennium-ftate, when Chrift fhall reign before his ancients glorioufly, and they fhall reign with him; and this will never be deftroyed, but fhall iffue in the ultimate glory; for now all enemies will be put under the feet of Chrift and his church; the beaft and falfe prophet will be no more; and fatan will be bound during this time, and after that caft into the lake of fire and brim- {tone, with all the wicked angels and men: and the kingdom fhall not be left to another people; as the Babylonian monarchy to the Medes and Perfians; the Perfian monarchy to the Greeks; and the Grecian monarchy to the Romans; but this fhall, not be left to a ftrange people, but fhall be given to the faints of the Moft High fee ch. vii..27 1 dur it fhall break in pieces, and fubdue all thefe. kingdoms, the Babylonian, Perfian, Grecian, and Roman; the three former in the latter, which has all eternity in another; it will be an’ everlafting kingdom; which is interpreted by Jreneus *, a ancient chriftian writer in the fecond century, of the refurrection of the jut; his words are, ** the ‘** great God hath fignified by Daniel things to ** come, and he hath confirmed them by the Son; ** and Chrift is the ftone which is cut out with- ** out hands, who fhall deftroy temporal king— doms, and bring in an everlafting one, which *¢ is the refurrection of the juft; for he faith, the ‘“* God of heaven fhall raife up a kingdom, which: ‘* fhall never be deftroyed;” this is the firft refurreCtion which brings on the perfonal reign, in which the righteous fhall reign with him a thoufand years; fee Kev. xx. 5, 6..

¥. 45. Fora/much as thou faweft that the ftone was cut out of the mountain without bands, 8c.) See the note on ¥. 34: and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brafs, the clay, the filver, and the gold;, of which the image was made, he had feen in his dream; and which reprefented the feveral monarchies of the world in fucceffion, and defcribed their nature, condition and circumftances, and the ruin of them; fee the note on y¥. 35: the great God hath made known to the king what fhall come to pafs hereafter; after his own death, and in his own monarchy; and what will be the fate of fueceeding ones; what will come to pafs in the feveral ages of time, and what will be done in the laft days; what an everlafting kingdom there will be, when’ the kingdoms of this world fhall be no more; and’ this the great God, who is great in knowledge as’ well as power, made known to him, which none elfe could; and by which he appears to be great, and above all gods, as Nebuchadnezzar afterwards owns; and which Daniel here fuggefts to him; fee Jf, xlv. 21. and xlvi. 9, 10: and the dream is cer= tain, and the interpretation thereof fure; this is certainly the dream the king had dreamed, for the truth of which he appeals to him; and the. interpretation of it given would be moft’ furely and faithfully accomplifhed, on which he might depend; for fince the dream had been fo diftinétly related to him, he had no room to doubt of the. true interpretation of it.

¥. 46. Then the king Nebuchadnexzar fell upon his face, and worfbipped Daniel, &c.) Imagining there was fomething of divinity in him, that he could fo exaétly tell him his dream, which was paft and gone; and give him the interpretation of it, refpecting things to come, which he concluded none but God could do; and therefore’ after the manner of the eaftern people, threw himfelf pro-

{trate to the earth with his face to it, and gave religious adoration to Daniel, for that this cannot be underftood of mere civil refpeét, appears by his following orders; and had he not thought that

Daniel was fomething more than a man, he a proud ~~ monarch would never have behaved in this manner to him; but being ftruck with amazement at the fwallowed them up; befides, the reft of thefe monarchies, which are all fignified by beafts in an’ relation of the dream, and the interpretation of it, he forgot what both he and Daniel were; the one a mighty king, the other a mere man, a fervant, yea a captive: this fhows that he was not exafperated at the account of the fall of his monarchy, as might have been expeéted, but was filled with wonder at the revelation made: and commanded that they foould offer an oblation and fweet odours unto him rifing from the ground, he gave orders to his fervants about him, fome of whom might be the priefts of Be/, that they would bring a meat-offering, and incenfe-with it, and offer them to him as to a god; but tho’ this was-ordered, we don’t read it was done; for it cannot be thought that Daniel, who had fcrupled eating the king’s food, and drinking his wine, left he fhould be defiled, and afterwards chofe rather to be caft into a den of lions than to omit prayer to God, would ever fuffer fuch a piece of idolatrous worfhip to be paid to him; and tho’ he could not hinder the king’s proftration and adoration, which were very fudden; yet it is highly probable he reafoned with the king upon it, and earneftly defired that no fuch undue honours fhould be paid to him; declaring that this knowledge was not of himfelf, but of God, to whom the glory ought to be given.

¥. 47. The king anfwered unto Daniel, &c.| By which it appears that Daniel interpofed and expoftulated with the king, and prevented the oblation to him as a god, and inftructed him in the knowledge of the true God he ought to worfhip; as the following confeffion of the king more clearly fhews: and faid, of a truth it is, that your Ged is a God of gods; the God of Daniel and his companions, and of the people of the Jews, to whom they belonged, is above all gods that are named and worfhipped by men: this appeared at this time for the prefent, tho’ it did not laft long, as the following chapter fhews, a moft glaring truth; that the God of J/rael was above all his gods, and whom his magicians and people worfhipped, and above all others: and a Lord of kings; that rules over them, and difpofes of them; fets them up, and pulls them down at his pleafure; and trans- Peecheir kingdoms from one to another, as he learned by the interpretation of his dream, to which he may in this refer: and a revealer of fecrets, feeing thou couldeft reveal this fecret; of the dream, and the interpretation of it; which he could never have done, had not his God been a revealer of fecrets, and revealed it to him.

x. 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, &c.] Advanced him to pofts of great honour and dignity; he was a great man before in {piritual things, in which he was made great by the Lord; and now he was made a great man in worldly things, thro’ the providence of God; thofe that honour him he will honour: and gave him many

N this chapter an account is given of a golden image made by Nebuchadnexzar, its bignefs; and where placed, ¥. 1. a fummons to 4ll his princes, governors and officers to attend the dedication of it, ¥. 2, 3. a proclamation commanding men of all nations to fall down and worfhip it, at hearing. the found of mufic, ¥. 4, 5; 6, 7. an. accufation of the Yews to the king, particularly Shadrach, Mefhach and Abednego, for not worfhipping great gifts; gifts great in value, and many in number; rich garments, gold, filver, precious ftones, and large eftates to fupport his honour and grandeur; and which Daniel accepted of, not merely for his own ufe, but to do good with to his poor brethren the Fews in captivity: and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, the whole monarchy was divided into feveral provinces, over each of which was a deputy-governor; this of Babylon was the chief of them, Babylon being the metropolis of the empire; the whole government of which, and all belonging to it, was given to Daniel; a proof of the king’s high efteem for him:

and chief of the governors over all the wife men of Babylon, here was an univerfity confifting of feveral colleges, over each of which there was a governor, and Daniel was the prefident of them all, or the principal or chancellor of the univerfity:

this office he might accept of, that he might have an opportunity of inculcating true knowledge, and of checking and correcting what was impious and unlawful.

¥. 49. Then Daniel requefted of the king, &c.]

Being in his favour, he improved it to the advantage of his friends, whom he did not forget in his elevated ftate; but made fuit to the king for them to be put into places of truft and honour, which the king liftened to: and he fet Shadrach,

Mefhach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; that is, under Daniel, who was made ruler over it; thefe were deputies under him, appointed to take care of fome affairs, which would have been too troublefome to him, and would have took up too much of his time from court; where he chofe to be, to improve his intereft on behalf of the church of God. De Dieu thinks, from the ufe of the word in Chaldee, and from what anfwers to it in the Aradic language, that it was agriculture, the fruits of the field, and the revenues arifing from thence, which thefe men had the care of: this Daniel got for them; that as they had affifted him in their prayers to God, to obtain the dream, and the interpretation of it, fo they might fhare with him in his honours and profits he had on the account thereof; and probably he might fuggeft this to Nebuchadnezzar, which the more eafily engaged him to grant the requeft: but Daniel fat in the gate of the king; either as judge there, or to introduce perfons into the king’s prefence: or it may be rendered, in the king’s court‘; he was chief man at court, and always refided there; he was prime-minifter and privy-counfellor: it was ufual with the eaftern nations to call their court a port, as the Turks do at this day; the Ottoman court is called the port.

in rage, and threatning to caft them into a fiery furnace if they continued to difobey his will, ¥. 13, 14, 15. their anfwer, which fhewed an inflexible refolution at all events not to comply with it, y. 16,17, 18. the king’s order to heat the furnace feven times hotter than ufual, and caft them into it, which was executed; the confequence of which was, they that caft them in were deftroyed thro’ the vehement heat of the furnace, but the three Jews were unhurt, yx. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Nedu-

476 Pa, A, N ¥. E I. 7 » Ch. ill. y. Ty”? was forty-fix cubits. Diodorus Sicalus * makes men tion of a ftatue of.gold in the temple of Belus, which Xerxes demolifhed, which was forty feet — high, and contained a thoufand Badylonifh talents - of gold, which,.at the loweft computation, amounts to three millions and a half of our money; which image Dr. Prideaux* conjectures was this ithe thaduezzar’s amazement at the fight of four perfons, inftead of three; and theie loofe, walking in the midft of the fire without hurt; and: one of them like the Son of God,. which he obferved> to his counfellors, ¥..24,25. upon which he called to Shadrach, Mefoach and Abednego to come qut of the furnace; which they did:in the prefence of his princes, governors. and) officers, having received not the Jeaft. damage in their perfons or cloaths, y. 26, 27, and then the king praifing the God: of the Jews, publifhed an edict that none fhould: fpeak againft him on pain of death; and reftored the three men to their former dignity, ¥. 28; 29, 30.

of Nebuchadnezzar’s'; but this feems not likely, fince the one was between thirty and forty yards’ high, the other but thirteen or fourteen; the one _ in the plain of Dura, the other in the temple of’ Bel: be fet it up in the plain of Dura, in the pro~ vince of Babylon; that fo it might be feen of all,” and there might be room enough for a vaft num-— ber of worfhippers together. ‘The Septuagint ver~' fion calls this place the plain of Deeira, which fome’ take to be the Deera of Ptolemy *; but that is in’ the province of Sufana; rather this is: Duraba % which he places near the river Euphrates in the’ province ot Babylon. Aben Ezra fays, this is the’ place where the children of Ephraim tell, and where the Chaldeans flew the Fews when they came into’ captivity. In the Talmud * it is laid, * from the’ ** river L/bal unto Rabbath is the valley of Duray? in Arabic 9 Dauro fignifies round; it was a round valley. “Ihe Fews have a notion, that this was the valley in the land of Shinar where the tower of Babel was built; and obferve, that ** altho’ the’

** defign of that generation was not accomplifhed, ‘¢ yet after their times their punifhment was made_ ‘< myanifeft, in that’ they faid, et us make us a “* name, Gen. xi. 4. for Nebuchadnezzar having” ‘* wafted and fubverted many kingdoms, and de-". *¢ ftroyed the fan@uary, thought it poffible to put” ‘¢ in execution the wicked defign of the age of the “* difperfion; hence it is faid, Dan. iii. 1. king Ne-. “< “buchadnezzar made an image, 8c. and fet it up “ seayt mypan iz the valley of gentration, in “< the province of Babylon, whichis the valley” ‘< fpoken of in Gen. xi. 2, 9. what therefore they* ** could not do, he’ attempted to do; ‘hence ‘he ‘© gathered all the pedple to worfhip’ thé image, * *¢ which agrees with Gew. xi. 4. for he put a Cer= << tain vefiel of thé vefléls of the temple on the’ *¢ mouth of it (the image), on which was engraven “< the divine name,’ that he might render effectual * *¢ the intention of the difperfed generation; but “< the feripture fays; “fer. li. 44. and Twill panifh” “ Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of bis “mouth that whith be hath fwallowed up, and the. ‘© nations fhall not flow together any more unto him 5 << for Daniel came and caufed that veffél that was “© fwallowed to be taken out of the mouth of the

-¥. 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king madean image of gold; &c.| Not of folid mafly gold; but either of a plate of gold, and hollow within; or of wood overlaid with gold; for otherwife it muft have took up a prodigious quantity of gold to make an image of fuch dimenfions as follow; this he ordered his ftatuaries or workmen to make for him; whether this image was for himfelf, or his father Nabopolajjar,, or for his chief god Bel, or as a new deity, is not eafy to fay; however, it was made for religions worfhip: the reafons that moved him to it cannot be afcertained; it might be out of pride and vanity, and to fet forth the glory and ftability of his monarchy, as if he’was not only the head of gold, but as an. image all-of gold; and. to contradict the interpretation of his dream, and-avert the fate of his empire fignified by it; or to purge himfelf from the jealoufies his fubjeéts had entertained of him, of relinquifhing the religion of his country, and embracing the ‘fewi/h religion, -by his praife:of the God of J/rael, and the promotion of Fews to places of truft and honour; or this might be done by the advice of his nobles, to eftablith am uniformity. of religion in his kingdom, and to prevent the growth of Fudaifm, and it may be to lay a fhare for: Davie and his companions; of which we have an inftance of the like kind in ch. vi. When this image was made, is, not certain; fome ‘think in a fhort time after his dream before related; if fo, he foon forgot it, and the God that had revealed it. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions place: it in the 18th’ year of his reign; and fome are. of opinion, thatit was after ‘his victories over the Fetws,.Zyre,y Egypt, and others; and that being flufhed therewith, in ithe pride of ‘his heart, ordered this image to’ be made. and out’ of the {poils ‘he brought with him: from the feveral countries he had conqueredi: Mr. Whiffon® places this faét-in the year ‘of the Julian:period 4127, and be~ fore Chrift 587; and fo Dr. Prideaux ", who makes' it to be in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar, agreeable to the above verfions. Mr. Bedford * puts it in the year before Chrift 585: whofe height was threefcore cubits, and the breadth thereof fix cubits; a common cubit being half a yard, it was thirty yards high, and three yards broad; but Herodotus 7 fays, the king’s cubit in Babylon was three larger than the ufualone3 and accordihg* to” that,' this: image: muft be! thirty-five yards high; and three yards ‘anda half ‘broad; but fince there is fo greata -difproportion: between the height andbreadth,: fome have thougtir thatythe height includes the:pedeftal on. which it ftoodsand allowing twelve cubits for that, thé heteht of the im « image, whence it fétl, and was broke to pieces, ** which is the famé as that in Gen. xi. 4%.”. y.2.°Phen Nebuchadnezzar the king fent to gather together the princes, &c.] He fent letters, or difpatched meflengers into the feveral provinces of hi§ empire, and parts of his dominions, to conyene all the*peers of his realm, and governors of fingers provinces, and all officers, civil, military and religious, éxprefled by various names and titles: 7. poveriors, and the captains, the judges, the treafurer phe‘ connfellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers “the” provinces; who ate particularly and’ diftiné sq figned, is not eafy to fay.” Facchiades +1 ks they’ anfwer to the’ {amie ‘offices and officers whic 4in—in the Turkif empire » prince A vargas atl Ie err oes aig Gee PS own, bafoaws; governors the beglerbegs; captains the agas of the Yanizaries, judges the kadies; treafurers the dephterdaries; the counfellors the a/phakies; and.

zayties the fheriffs; their chief doctors their mupbti’s as L’Empereur; and the rulers of the provinces the zangiakies or viziers: but be they who they will, they were the principal men of the empire, both in things civil, military and ecclefiaftic, who were ordered ¢o come to the dedication of the image, which Nebuchadnezzar the king bad fet up; for tho’ it was made and fet up, it was not a proper object of worfhip till dedicated; and which was done by burning incenfe, blowing trumpets, &c. now thefe great men were gathered together on this occafion, becaufe of the greater honour done hereby to the king and his image; and alfo by their example to engage the populace the more eafily to the worfhip of it; and likewife as being the reprefentatives of them, fince they could not all be colleéted together in one place; and it may be it was done, as fome think, to enfhare Daniel and his companions. Philoftratus ‘ makes mention of an officer at Babylon that had the keeping of the great gate into the city; which fome take to be the fame with the firft fort here mentioned; who firft offered the golden ftatue of the king to be worfhipped, before he would permit any to enter into the city; which perhaps -might take its rife from the worfhip of this golden image.

¥. 3. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, &c.}] And all the reft of the officers before mentioned having received their orders from the king, in obedience to them, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image Nebuchadnezzar the king had fet up; at great expence, and with much fatigue and trouble, they came from all parts to attend this great folemnity: and they flood before the image Nebuchadnezzar bad fet up; they ftood and looked at it, and viewed its feveral parts; they ftood and beheld it with wonder, its richnefs and largenefs; they ftood and attended to all the rites and ceremonies of the dedication of it; they ftood and were ready to fall down.and worfhip it, when the word of command was given; fo obfequious were, they to the king’s. will.

v4. Then an herald. cried aloud, &c.] That his voice might be heard all over the plain; or if it fhould be thought that one was not fufficient to be heard throughout, which probably was thé cafe, and where fo great a number being afiembled together, all could not hear one man, the fingular may be put for the plural; and many being fet in different places in the plain, and {peaking different languages, might proclaim when the image was dedicated, as follows: to you it is commanded; by the king’s authority: O people, nations and languages; the feveral kingdoms, ftates and provinces that belonged to the Babylonian monarchy, and fpoke different languages, as. now reprefented by their feveral governors and officers; as the Armenians, Parthians, Medes, Perfians, &c.

_ yt. 5. That at what time ye bear the found of the cornet, &cc.] So called of the horn of which it was made; a fort of trumpet; fo the Zews had trumpets of rams horns: flute or pipe, or whiftle, fo called for its hiffing noife; it is ufed of the ay but or Sombuca; whith, ‘accorditg: to Atheneus®; was a four-{tringed inftrument, an ‘invention of the Syrians and Strabo “a Greek writer, Tpeaks of it as’ a barbarous ‘name, as the eaitern ones ‘were reckoned by the Grecidns: pfaltery; this feems’to be a Greck word, as’ does thé next ‘that’ follows, rendered dulcimer; but in the original text is ym phonia; which does not fignify fymnphony, or a concert or confort of mufic, but a particular in ftrament of mufic. Maimonides ' inakes mention of it as a mufical inftrument among others 5 Ser+ vius * calls it an oblique pipe; and J/dore ' defcribes it a hollow piece of wood, with leather ftretched upon it, and beat upon with rods or fticks, fomething like our drum: the king of Babylon might have Grecian muficiatis, or however Grecian inftruments of mufic in his court, as the Grecians had from the eaftern nations: and all kinds of smufic; that ‘could be had or thought of; and this was done.in honour to. this idol, and to allure carnal, fenfual perfons to the worfhip of it, according to the order given: ye fall down and worfbip the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king bath fet up; when they heard the mufic found; immediately they were to repair to the plain where the image ftood; and pay their adoration to it; or to fall down proftrate in their own houfes in honouf ‘of it; and perhaps perfons were appointed inall cities and towns throughout the empire to play this mufie; at heating which, all people, nations and tongues. were to bow down, in token of their religious regard unto it.

¥. 6. And whofe falleth not down and worfbippeih, &c.] Who refufes to worfhip it, or wilfully negleéts it; which would be interpreted a contempt of it, and of the king’s command: fball-in the fame hour be caft into the midft of a burning fiery furnaces fuch as were ufed to burn ftones in for lime, as Farchi obferves: the mufic was to draw, the: furnace was to drive men to, this idolattous worfhip; the one was to pleafe and foothe the minds of men, and fo allure them to fuch ftupid fervice; the other to frighten them into obedience. - This is the firft time that mention is made of ours in- the facted {criptures; it was very probably the invention of the Chaldeans or Babylonians; for Herodotus ™ fays, the Greeks received the twelve parts of the day from the Babylonians.

¥. 7: Therefore at that time,~&c.} Sucha fe- ~ vere edict being publifhed, threatning with fo terrible a punifhment: when all the people beard thé found of the cornet, flute, harp, fackbut, pfaltery, and all kinds of mufic; not only at Babylon, and that lived near the plain of Dura, but'in all places where it was played: all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down, and worfbipped the golden: image that Nebuchadnezzar ‘the king bad fet up; what'thro’ love of mufic, the fear of the filtnace,; regard’ to fuperftition and idolatry, and'to the’ king’s’ command, men of all riations and languages pave’ it homage and worfhip:* ~ fil

¥. 8. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, 8&¢.| That is, to king Nebuchadnexzar, either’ in his' palace at Babylon, or more likely in the plain of Dura: and accufed the Fevbss particularly Shadrach, Mefhach' and Abednego; as atter~ mentioned, of not obeying’ the king?s- combiaiid, to worfhip the golden image: thefe Chaldeans at the time of adoration had their eyes upon the Fews, particularly thof three méh, to” obferve “eal wou would behave; arid as they ftood up whilft the others fell down, they were eafily obferved; wherefore they immediately haften to the king, to lay - an information againft them; whofe places of truft and honour they envied, and now hoped to be put into them in their room; and if thefe were the Chaldeans, or fome of them, whofe lives thefe men had been the means of faving, as is probable, they acted a very ungrateful part. Should it be afked, how came thefe three men to be prefent? it may be anfwered, they came here in obedience to the king’s orders, as his officers, who had fummoned them to this place; which they judged their duty to do, though they determined not to worfhip his image, fhould he require it; or they came here on purpofe to bear their teftimony againft fuch idolatry. No mention is made of Daniel, very probably he was not here; for what reafons cannot be faid; however, no accufation is laid againft him; perhaps he was too great to be meddled with, being high in the king’s favour.

¥. 9. They fpake and faid to Nebuchadnezzar, &c.] Having got accefs unto him, and within his hearing, they exprefied themfelves in the following manner: O king, live for ever; this they faid to fhew their fidelity and hearty attachment to him, and their regard to his welfare, and the continuance of his life; and the rather, to ingratiate themfelves into his affections, and gain audience of him; fee the note on ch. ii. 4.

y¥. 10. Thou, O king, haft made a decree, &c.] According to his own mind and will, and which he had publifhed as fuch to his fubjects: that every man; let him be who he will, high or low, rich or poor, in whatfoever {tation or condition: that foall hear the found of the cornet, flute, harp, fackbut, pfaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of mufic; fuch as had been juft then blown or played on: jrall fall down and worfbip the golden image; which the king had ordered to be made and fet up, and now dedicated, and had been worlhipped by men of all ranks.

y. 11. And whofo falleth not down and worfbippeth, &c.] The image; the above is the decree, this that follows the fanction of it: that be be caft into the midft of the burning fiery furnace; hould ee y¥. 12. There are certain Fews, &c.] Men by birth, by nation, and religion defpicable, foreigners, exiles, and captives; this they obferve by way of contempt, and tacitly fuggeft that they were never worthy of the king’s regard, and improper perfons to be put in places of profit and truft, and that the king had done a wrong thing in advancing them: whom thou bajft fet over the affairs of the province of Babylon; not to fee that the {treets, ways, and walls were kept in order, as Saadiah obferves; for this is mentioned as an ageravation of their crime, that being fet in fuch high places, fhould be guilty of fuch ingratitude to the king, and fet fuch a bad example to his fubjects: Shadrach, Mefbach, and Abednego,; by name; they fay nothing of the common people of the Yews, who either were not piefent, -being employed in a fervile manner, or were below their notice; nor of Daniel, who was above them, and out of their reach, and whom the king himfelf, as den Ezra obferves, had ordered an oblation to be offered to; or perhaps he was not there, being fick, or on the king’s bufinefs elfewhere; for that he was prefent, and worhi can never be imagined by any that know his chae racter. The ews, who do not thew all the refpece that is due unto Deniel, fay " fome very idle and foolifh things of him, as reafons why he was not prefent at this time. It is afked, ‘* where did Da-

“* niel go? fays Rab, to dig a large river in Tibe- ‘* yias, fome copies read in a mountain; but Sa- “* muel fays, to fetch the feed of herbs, food for *¢ beafts; and R. Yochanan fays, to fetch fwine “ from Alexandria in Egypt-—there were three in ** the confultation about his abfence at this time, *¢ the holy bleffed God, Nebuchadnezzar, and Da- ‘¢ wiel himielf. The holy blefied God faid, let ‘* Daniel be gone, that it mayn’t be faid, they (the ‘*¢ three children) were delivered by his’ merits; “© Daniel faid, Pll be gone from hence; that I may. ** not fulfil that, she graven images of their gods fhall ¢ ye burn; Nebuchadnezzar {aid, let Daniel be ab- ‘¢ fent, that it may not be faid he burnt his God ‘¢ in the fire.” Thefe men, O king, have noh re~

garded thee; fhewed no refpect to his perfon and authority; they difobeyed his orders, and were guilty of rebellion againft him, and contempt of majelty: the proot follows, they ferve not thy gods; whom the king and the nation worlhipped, as Bel, Nebo, Meredach, and others » nor worfbip the golden image which thou baft fet up; they did not bow down to it, in reverence of it, as had been ordered; ° this they knew would be moft provoking. to the king. ¥. 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury, &c.] Which did not become him as a man, much lefs asa king, and {till lefs as engaged in devotion and religion: commanded to bring Sbhadrach, Mefbach, and Abednego, that is, immediately before him; who very probably were not afar off: he did not order them in his wrath and fury to be flain directly, as he did the wife men and foothfayers in another cafe; but to be brought before him, and examined firft, that he might know the truth of thefe allegations againft them; which fhows, amidft all his rage, he retained till fome refpect for them, and efteem of them: shen they brought thefe men before the king; which they had not much trouble to do, being very ready to come and anfwer for themfelves, and give an account. of their conduct, and their reafon for it. —

¥. 14. Neouchadnezzar [pake and faid unto them, is it ¢rue, &c.] What I have heard of you, what you are charged with and acculed of; furely it can~ not be; fo Aben Ezra, and_Saadieh interpret the — word as we do, and all the Ovieutal verfions; it is - only ufed in this place: it is exprefied by way of.

admiration, as Facchiades obierves; it being ineredible to the king, what he could never believe, unlefs it appeared plain in his own eyes. Some ® render it, is it a de/olation? fo Farchi, is my de- - cree fuch, or fhould you not obey it, was this fuf-— fered, nothing but diforder and defolation would follow in the kingdom: or, is it of purpofe? as others ®; have you done this willingly and know-.

ingly, or thro’ imprudence and inadvertency? if the latter, it is pardonable; if not, it cannot be bore with, De Dieu, from the Syriac ule of the word, renders it, is it a joke? are you ferious, and. in good earneft, or in joke, that ye worthip nog my gods? or do you mock me and them? C Sha a drach, Mefhach, and Abednego,; on whom J have

~ conferred fo many favours, raifed from a low to a