Exposition of the Whole Bible

he, fay they, is able to deliver us from the burning

high eftate, and yet ufed by you in this manner: fiery furnace; either to prevent their being caft into do ye not ferve my gods? one’would think he had no need to have afked this queftion; fince he muft needs know, that by their nation and religion, they ferved only one God, and could ferve no other; and that by their daily practice they never did, in which they were indulged: zor worfhip the golden image that I have fet up? it is for the fake of this the queftion is put; this was the thing his heart was jet upon, and fuch was his pride, that he could not bear any controul in it.

¥. 15. Now if ye be ready, that at what time ye fhall hear, &c.| The meaning is, that if they were difpofed in mind, which the king was very defirous they fhould, both for his own honour, and for their fafety, for whom he had a regard; and were willing to comply with his orders, and readily yield obedience to his will, and worfhip his idol; the following would be a fignal to them, and all would be well with them: or it may be rendered, when now ye fhall be, that at what time ye foall bear 1, for the word fignifies future, as well as ready, and is by fome fo tranflated; and the fenfe is, when it fhall be, or for the future, that they fhould hear the found of the cornet, flute, harp, fackbut, pfaltery and dulcimer, and ali kinds of mufic; which was played not once only, but perhaps at certain times every day,and defigned to be continued: ye fall down and worfbip the image which I have made; it is well; fo doing, the king’s wrath would be appeafed, their lives would be preferved, and they continued in his favour, and in their honourable pofts: dut if ye worfbip not, ye Jhall be caft the fame hour into the midft of a burning Jiery furnace, immediately, without any delay; no reprieve will be granted, and much lefs a pardon: and who is that God that fhall deliver you out of my hands? he knew their confidence in the God of J/- vael, which he attempts to break and remove; he forefaw the objection they would make, which he endeavours to anticipate by this proud and vain boaft, forgetting what he himfelf had faid, ch. ii.

4s 16. Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego anfwered and faid to the king, &c.] In a mild and gentle manner, without affronting his majefty, or infulting his gods, and yet without the leaft degree of fervile fear or fawning flattery: O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to anfwer thee in this matter; about worfhipping the image; we are not {folicitous about a choice of words, or in what manner to draw up our anfwer, it is ready in our mouths; we have no need to take time and confider of this matter, and think what to fay, we are at a point about it: as thou art peremptory in thy will, to have thine image worfhipped, we are as refolute, as ‘determined never to warfhip it; fo that there is no need to fpend time in a debate about it; thou art come to a conclufion, and fo are we: or in this matter, about the power of our God to deliver, we are not folicitous about an anfwer to that; we leave him to defend himfelf, and his own power, againft fuch infults upon him.

y. 17. Uf it be fo, &c.| That we mutt be caft into the fiery furnace, as thou haft threatened: our God whom we ferve, for tho’ they did not ferve the gods of the Babylonians, they did not live without God in the world; they believed in the one true God, the God of J/rael, their covenant-God and Father; whom they worfhipped, had an intereft in, and who had, and would have a regard for them:

it, or to preferve them unhurt in it, and to bring them fafe out of it: inftances of his power in other cafes, fuch as the paflage of the J/raelites thro’ the Red-fea fafe, when their enemies were drowned, with others, confirmed their faith in this: and be will deliver us out of thine hand, O king; they might have awell-grounded hope and perfuafion of deliverance, arifing partly from former inftances of the di-. vine power and goodnefs in fuch like cafes; and partly from the confideration of the glory of God, which would be greatly confpicuous herein; and chiefly becaufe of the king’s defiance of God, and blafphemy againft him, which they had reafon to believe would be taken notice of; for it does not appear that they had any forefight of certain deliverance, or any fecret intimation of it to them, or a full affurance of it, as is evident by what follows: °°;

¥. 18. But if not, &c.] If our God does not think fit to exert his power, and deliver us, which we are well affured he is able to do; if it is not his will, we are content, we are refigned unto it: be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not ferve thy gods; be it as it will, whether we are delivered or not; we are not fure of the one, but we are at a point as to the other: sor worfhip the golden image which thou hafi fet up; come life, come death, we are ready; we had rather die than. fin: they were all of one mind, and agreed in this matter; a noble inftance of {piritual fortitude and courage!

¥. 19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, &c.] Nettled at the anfwer given him; perceiving: his threats made no impreffion on theie three men, and that they were refolutely determined at all events not to obey his will: and the form of bis vifage was changed againft Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego; not only to what it was in times paft, when they were his favourites, and he fmiled upon them; but with refpect to what it was while they were under examination, and he was trying to bring them to his will; when finding it impracticable, fury rofe up, and fhewed itfelf in the furrows and frowns of his forehead; in the fharpnefs of his nofe; in his fparkling eyes, foaming mouth, and gnafhing teeth, and that general rednefs his face was covered with: therefore be /pake, and commanded that they Joould beat the furnace one feven times more than it was wont to Le heat; this feems to be a furnace for this purpofe, and where it was ufual to burn malefactors; it being a common punifhment with the Chaldeans, fee Fer. xxix. 22. the order was to put feven times more fuel in the furnace, that it might be fo much the hotter,.and burn fo much the fiercer; which order of the king fhows indeed the greatnefs of his wrath and fury, but at the fame time that it had tranfported him out of his fenfe and judgment; fince fo fierce a fire was the better for the three men, fuppofing them to have died as he intended; who would have been the fooner difpatched by it, and fo not fuffer fo much pain and torment as in a flow fire, or lefs heat; but this was over-ruled by the providence of God, that fo it fhould be, that the miracle-of their walking in it unfinged and unhurt, and their deliverance out of it, might appear the greater.

¥. 20. And he commanded the moft mighty men that were in bis army, &c.] The moft famous for courage of mind, and ftrength of body, that were in

4 prny VITYN IF fi faturi eftis, Gejerus.

all his army: to bind Shadrach, Mefbach, and Abednego; either their hands or their feet, or both; un- Jefs it can be thought, that they were all three bound together in one bufdle; and fo. caft into the furnace; which is not improbable, as Gejerus obferves; feeing the king afterwards wondered to fee them walk feparately in the furnace: there was no need to bind them, for they would not have refifted; and if he ordered this to fecure them from the power of their God, it was vain and foolith: and to caff them into the burning fiery furnace, if they were all three bound together, it required fome able bodied men to take them up and caft them in, efpecially if the furnace was above them; though it is more probable, that it was a more deprefied - place, or below them, and fo the caft was more eafy.

y. 21. Then thefe men were bound in their coats, &c.]. Their upper coats, cloaks, or mantles, as Aben Ezra and Facchiades; though, according to the ‘ufe of the word in the Arabic language, the femoralia * or breeches are meant: their bofen, and their hats, and their other garments; the turbants on their heads, which were ufually wore in thofe countries; and their ftockings and fhoes, and other under garments, as waiftcoats and fhirts; which thro’ hafte or negligence, or with defign, were kept on them, ‘to make their torment the greater; but were intended by the Lord to make the miracle the more confpicuous. According to Cocceius * and Byneust, the firft of thefe words fignifies the outward covering of the body, as cloaks, ce. the fecond the covering of the feet, as focks, fhoes, and fandals; and the third the covering of the head, as caps, turbants, helmets, &. the laft the inner garments that were under the upper ones: and were caft into the midft-of the burning fiery furnace, in the manner and circumftances before related.

¥. 22. And therefore becaufe the king’s commandment was-urgent, &c.} Or was ordered to be obeyed in hafte, and with expedition and difpatch, hence the men were caft into the furnace with cloaths on; or thofe that caft them were not fo careful of themfelves: and the furnace exceeding hot; being heated feven times more than ufual: the flame of the fire flew thofe men that took up Shadrach, Mefeach, and Abednego; which came out of the furnace, being fo exceflive hot, and the {fmoke along with it; fo that when thofe men took up the three children, and brought them fo near to it as was neceflary to caft them in, the flame and fmoke catched their breath, and fuffocated them; who might be men that advifed the king to {uch cruel meafures, or however were very ready, out of illwill to thefe good men, to execute them, and therefore riehteoufly perifhed'in their fins: in the apocrypha it is faid, that the flame iffued out fortynine cubits above the furnace. « y¥. 23. And thefe three men fell down bound into the midft of the burning fiery furnace.| “The fire not fo much as deftroying what they were bound with, and much lefs them; but being bound they fell, and. there. they lay for the’ preient,.unbound and alive;. when thofé that caft them in were: deftroyed. In the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and\radic verfions, follow fixty-feven verfes, ‘containing the fong of Azariah and his companions inthe furnace, which are not in the Mebrew text. » y. 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar was aftonifbed; 8ac.| nat. BMDD. trepidavit, Gejerus; fo Ben Melech from the Targam on

At the burning of thofé that caft the’ thre into the furnace, as Yacchiades; or he mig feized with a pannic, ‘and his fpirits filled fey oe and dread, as the word "is by fomé faid to fignify, and this from the immediate hand of God; — rofe up in bafie,; from the place where he was went to the mouth of the furnace, to fee% become of thofe that were caft into it? wm and faid unto bis counf@lors; who had advifed to do what heshad done, out of envy and ill-will to thefe ews: did not we caft three men bound inte the midft of the fire? that is, was there not an: der of council for it?. and was it not done according to it? they anfwered and foid, true, O king 5 it was certainly fo: thus they are brought to bear a teftimony to the truth of this; it was not onh the king that gave the orders, and faw thei obeyed, but his counfellors alfo, and which they own, and ferves to corroborate the truth of the miracle. ¥. 25. He anfwered and faid; lo I fee four men loofe, &c.| Not bound as the three were, when caft in; but quite at hberty in their hands and feet, and feparate from one another. As this fiery furnace may be an’emblem of ‘the fiery trials and afflictive difpenfations the children of God pafs thro? in this world, being not joyous, but grievous to the flefh, tho’ uleful to purge and purify; fo this and fome other circumftances attending thefe’ good. men in the furnace, are applicable to the faints in fuch cafes; for tho’ afflictions are fometimes themfelves called cords,. with which men are faid to’ be bound, yet by means of them they are loofed from other things; from the power and prevalence of fin over them; from the world, and the things of it, they fometimes too much cleave and are glued unto; from a fpirit of bondage, and from doubts and fears; their hearts under them being comforted and enlarged with the love of God he Knowing, vifiting, and chufing them in the furnace of affliction; or making known himfelf to them,, his love and choice of them; whereby theif fouls ate fet at liberty, and the graces of his Spirit are drawn forth into a lively exercife, thro” his love being fhed abroad in them. Walking in the midft of the fire, the furnace being large enough to walk in, and where they took their walks as in a garden; nor were they concerned to come out of it; nor uneafy at being in it; the violence of the fire being quenched, as the apoftle fays, referring to this inftance, Heb. xi. 34: Seadiah fays, the angel Gabriel, who is over the hail, came and cooled the fire of the furnace. ‘ So afflictions are a path to walk in, the narrow way to eternal life; throug’ which all muft enter the kingdom of hea which there willbe an end. ° Walking: in ‘it fuppofes ftrength, which God gives his people at fuch feafons; and when they have his prefence they are unconcerned; none of thefe things move them, no:

can they feparate them from the love of they walk on with pleafure and’ delight, praifes. of God, as did Paal and Silas and as many martyrs have done in t converfing with Chrift; and with his pafs on, and pafs thro’ the more c are not anxious about their delivera:

“fiery furnace, than to be with Nebuchaduezzar in his palace without him. And they have no burt; either in their bodies, or in their garments, neither of them being burnt; they fuffered no pain in the one, nor lofs in the other. Afflictions do no hurt to the people of God; not to their perfons, which are fafe in Chrift, and to whom he is an hiding-place and covert, as from the ftorm and tempeft, fo from the force of fire, that it fhall not kindle upon them to hurt them; nor to their graces, which are tried, refined, and brightened hereby; faith is ftrengthened, hope is encouraged, and love made to abound. All the afflictions of the faints are in love, and are defigned for good, and do work together for good to them that love God; they are fometimes for their temporal, and often for their {piritual good, and always work for them an exceeding weight of glory. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God; like one of the angels, who are called the fons of God; fo archi, Saadiah, and Facchiades; but many of the ancient chriftian writers interpret it of Chrift the Son of God, whom Nebuchadnezzar, though an heathen prince, might have fome knowledge of from Daaiel and other Yews in his court, of whom he had heard them fpeak as a glorious perfon; and this being fuch an one, he might conclude it was he, or one like to him, and it is highly probable it was he, fince it was not unufual for him to appear in an human form, and to be prefent with his people, as he often is with them, and even in the furnace of affliction; fee J/ xliii. 2. and xlviii. ro. to fympathize with them; to revive and comfort them; to bear them up and fupport them; to teach and inftruct them, and at laft to deliver them out of their afflictions.

y¥. 26. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, &c.| He came fo nigh before, as to fee at a diftance four perfons walking in it; now he comes nearer, as near as he could with fafety: and /pake and faid, Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego, ye fervants of the moft high God; he not only fpake to them in a different tone than he did before; not in wrath and fury, but mildly and gently, with great refpect unto them, and reverence of them; and not only calls them by the names he and his courtiers had given them, but ftiles them the fervants of the moft high God; he owns their God was a God above his: the Chaldeans worlhipped fire, but the God of the Fews had power over that, and could reftrain the force of it at pleafure; and he acknowledges that thefe mien were faithful worfhippers of him; who had in this wonderful manner appeared for them, and thereby approved their faith and confidence in him, and their fervice of him; fee 4s xvi. 17: come forth, and come hither; that is, come out of the furnace, and come to the place where I and my nobles are: then Shadrach, Mefoach, and Abednego came forth of the midft of the fire, as they had been caft into it by the king’s order, therefore they did not prefume to go out of it without the fame; nor were they concerned about coming out; they had very:agreeable and delightful company, and had reafon to fay it was good for them to be there; however, when they had the King’s order, they immediately obeyed it.

&c.] Either by the order of the king, or of their decree is made Ly me”; which is as follows:

tanus, Cocceius, Michaelis.

own accord, to fee the miracle that was wrought Jaw thefe men; faw them walking in the furnace, faw them come out of it at the king’s call; and faw them when they were out, and examined them thoroughly; fo that they had ocular demonftration, full proof and conviction of the truth of what was done: upon whofe bodies the fire bad no power to blifter; feorch, burn, and confume them, as it has ufually over the bodies of men; or any creature: nor was an bair of their head finged 3 which is eafily done with the weakeft flame; and this muft be underftood of the hair of their eye-brows and beards alfo; fee Luke xxi. 18: ‘neither were their coats changed; neither the fubftance, nor form, nor colour of them, but were juft as they were when caft into the furnace; the fame holds good of all their other garments, their interior ones, with their turbants, fhoes, and ftockings: sor the /mell of the fire had paffed on them; as will upon perfongs that ftay at any time in a place where there is much fire and fmoke; and efpecially where much combuftible things are burnt, as pitch, fulphur, and the like, as in furnaces; and very probably in this, which had been fo vehemently heated; and yet there was no {mell of it on their garments; all which ferve to make the miracle the more wonderful.

¥. 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar fpake and faid, &c.} In the prefence of his princes and prime-minifters of ftate, and made the following confeffion, to the praife and glory of the true God; which was ex-. torted from him at this time thro’ the force of conviction; for it does not appear to be a thorough converfion; nor did he relinquifh his gods, and the worfhip of them: dlefed be the God of Shadrach, Mefbach, and Abednego; he does not call him his God, but theirs, as he had called him the God of Daniel before, ch. ii. 47: who hath fent his angel, and delivered his fervants that trufted in him; the fourth man he faw in the furnace, he now calls an angel of God; for the-heathens had notions of fome being the meffengers of the gods: this feems to favour the fenfe of thofe, who think an angel is defigned by the fourth perfon; tho’ it does not follow that'a created one muft be meant; for it may be underftood of the angel of God’s prefence, the increated angel Jefus Chrift; who being fent by his divine Father, came and delivered thefe three perfons from being confumed in the fire, who had in fo ftrong a manner exprefled their confidence in God, which the king now remem-., bers and obferves; fee ¥. 17, 18: and have changed the king’s word, made it null and void, refufed to obey it, knowing it was their duty to obey God rather than man; fo that the king was forced to change his word, and inftead of obliging them to worfhip his image, bleffes their God: and yielded their bodies; freely gave them up, without any refiftance, into the hands of thofe who were ordered by the king to take and bind them, and caft them into the furnace, to which alfo they readily yielded themfelves: fo the Septuagint and Arabic verfions add, to the fire, that they might not ferve nor worfoip any god, except their own God; they chole rather to deliver up themfelves to death, to be burnt in a furnace, than to ferve any other god than the God of J/rael; fuch was their conftancy and firmnefs of mind; fuch their attachment to the true God, and their faithfulnefs to him.

every people, nation, and language, which fpeak any ‘bine anil againft the God of Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego, any thing indecent, blafphemous, or by way of contempt: he does not give orders that their God fhould be worfhipped, or fignify that he would worfhip him himfelf, and quit his falfe deities; no, only that he fhould not be fpoken againft, as very probably before this time he was, to the great grief of thefe good men; and to whom therefore fuch an ediét would be grateful, tho’ no more could be obtained; by which it was enatted, that any fuch perfon, fo blafpheming and reproaching, fhall be cut to pieces, and their houfes foall be made a dunghil,; fee the note on ch. ii. 5: becaufe there is no other God that can deliver after this manner; no, not even Be/ himfelf, as was plain; for he q| “AHIS chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar himfelf; and was either taken out of his archives, or given by him to Daniel, who under divine infpiration inferted it into this work of his; and a very ufeful inftruction it contains, fhewing the fovereignty of God over the greateft kings and potentates of the earth, and this acknowledged by one of the proudeft monarchs that ever lived upon it. It begins with a preface, faluting all nations, and declaring the greatnefs and power of God, y. 1, 2, 3. then follows the narrative of a dream the king dreamed, which troubled him;~upon which he called for his wife men to ‘interpret it, but in vain; at length he told it to Daniel, y. 4—g. the dream itfelf; which being told, aftonifhed Daniel, the king being fo much interefted in it, ¥. 10—19. the interpretation of it, with Damiel’s advice upon it, is in ¥. 20—27. the fulfilment of it, time and occafion thereof, ¥. 28—33. Nebuchadnezzar’s reftoration to his reafon and kingdom, for which he praifes God, ¥. 34—37.

¥. 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, 8&cc.] ‘This and the two following verfes are annexed to the preceding chapter in the Hebrew bible, and in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions; as if the author of the divifion of the chapters thought, that Nebuchadnezzar propofed by this public proclamation to celebrate the praife of the Lord, on account of the wonderful deliverance of the three Fews from the fiery furnace; whereas they are a preface to a narrative of a dream, and an event which concerned himfelf, and moft properly begin a new chapter, as they do in the Syriae and Arabic verfions. The edict begins, not with pompous and extravagant titles, as was the manner of the eaftern monarchs, and ftill is, but only plainly Nebuchadnezzar the king; for he was now humbled under the mighty hand of God; whether his converfion was real, is not evident; yet certain it is, he expreffes himfelf in ftronger language concerning the divine being and his works, and under a deeper fenfe of his fovereignty and majefty, than ever he did before. ‘This proclamation is direéted unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth, belonging to his kingdom, as Aben Ezra; and thefe were many; befides the Babylonians, Af- Syrians, and Chaldeans, alfo the Medes and Perfians, the Egyptians, the Yews, and the nations round

1 &© & Chia could not deliver the men at the mouth of the furnace, that caft in thefe three, for they were de- {troyed by the force of the flame and {moke that came out; but the true God delivered the three men caft in, even in the midft of it; this was be= yond all contradiction, and therefore he could noe but own it. int ys ¥. 30. Then the king promoted Shadrach,; and Abednego, in the pravince of Babylon, &c.| He reftored them to their places of truft and profit; and increafed their honours: or, made them to pro- Jper, as the word * fignifies; they flourifhed in his court, and became very great and famous. ‘The Septuagint and Arabic verfions add, ‘* and he “« counted them worthy to prefide over. all the ‘¢ ews that were in his kingdom.”" “om about them; and alfo. the Spaniards; Moors, and Thracians, with others: but there is no reafon tolimit this to his own fubjects, tho” firft defigned;: for it was his defire that all people whatever in the known world might read, hear, and confider what. the grace of God had done unto him, with him, and tor him, and learn to fear and reverence him:, peace be multiplied unto you; a with for all kind of outward happinefs and profperity, and an increafeof it; thus it becomes a prince to wifh for all his. fubjects, and even for all the world; for there cannot be a greater bleffing than peace, nor a greater judgment than war. This phrafe is borrowed from the common falutation. in eaftern countries, and is ufed often in the New Teftament for fpiritual and eternal peace.

y. 2. I thought it good, &c.] Or fair ¥ and beautiful, highly becoming me, what was my duty,, and what might be profitable and beneficial’ to others, and make for the glory of the great God of heaven and earth: to /hew the figns and wonders. the high God hath wrought toward me; to declare by writing the wonderful things, God, who is above all, the moft high God, had done unto him, by giving him a wonderful dream, exa¢tly deferibing his future cafe and: condition, and then as wonderful an interpretation of it, and which was as wonderfully filled; and after all, in a wonderful manner reftoring him to the exercife of his reafon, and the adminiftration of his kingdom, after both. shad departed from him. ~ i

¥. 3. How great are his figns! and how mighty are bis wonders! &c.| They are great, very greats exceeding great; fo great that it cannot be faid, nor even conceived how great they are, what a difplay of wifdom, power, and goodnefs is in them; they are wonderful beyond expreffion’ and ose: 9.tion; and fo ftrong and mighty as not to be re- — fifted and made void by all the powers of nature,. earth, or hell, and if this may be faid of his works. of providence, and his miracles of that, how mucl

_more of his works and’ miracles of grace! Bis king: dom is an everlafting kingdom; Nebuchadne }reign, tho’ a long one, had an end, and call others, but the kingdom of ‘God is the kingdom of providence, and alfo of ‘the kingdom of his Son, the Meffiah, as in ch 44. from whence Nebuchadnezzar had learnt this

and his dominion is from generation to generation; or,

with generation and generation *; it goes along, and continues with all generations, and will do fo to the end of time.

y¥.4. I Nebuchadnezzar was at reft in mine houfe, \

&c.] Being returned from his wars, and having obtained victory over the Egyptians, and other nations, and’ made himfelf an univerfal monarch; and’ now was in entire reft from all his enemies; enjoying himéelf in his family, and among his courtiers, and nothing ‘to difturb him from any quarter. ofepbus » fays, this was a little after the hiftory of the former chapter; but it muft be many years after that: he reigned 45 years; one year after this dream, it came to pafs; it was feven years fulfilling, and he lived after his reftoration a year or two; fo that this muft be about the 35th year of his reign. Bifhop Uber * and. Mr. Whifron ¢ place it in the year of the Julian period 4144, and before Chrift 570; and fo Dr. Prideaux *. Mr. Bedford ‘ puts it in the year 569: and flourijh- ing in my palace; in health of body, in vigour of mind, abounding with riches; indulging himfelf in alb fenfual pleafures; adored by his fubjects, carefiéd by his courtiers, and in fame throughout the whole world: a new palace was built by him, of which ¥. 30. being, as, Dr. Prideaux * fays, four times as big as the old one; eight. miles in compafs; furroundéd with three walls; and had hanging gardens in it, he made for his wife.

¥. 5. I faw a dream which made me afraid, &c.] Things were reprefented to his fancy in a dream, as if he faw them with his eyes, as the tree, its leaves and fruit; the fhaking and cutting it down to the ftump, &c. and tho’ he did not underftand the meaning of it, yet he thought it portended fome evil, which threw him into a pannic; he was afraid that fomething bad would befal him, tho’ he knew not what: thus God,can make the minds of the greateft men uneafy amidft all their glory, pride and pleafure: and the thoughts upon my bed, and the vifions of my bead troubled me; the thoughts that came into his mind while he was upon his bed dreaming, and the things which were reprefented to his fancy in his’ brain, he remembered when awake, gave him a great deal of trouble and uneafinefs, what fhould be the: meaning of them, and what would be the iffue and event of thefe things.

y¥. 6. Therefore made I a decree, &c.] Publifhed a proclamation; fignifying it was his mind and will to bring in all the wife men of Babylon before him; all together, fuppofing that one or other of them, or by confulting together, would be, able to explain things to his fatisfaction, and make him more eafy: that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream for tho’ they could not tell the interpretation of his former dream, becaufe he could not relate to them the dream itfelf; which, — if he could, they promifed him the interpretation; but now he could remember it, and therefore might expect they would make known, the interpretation of it to him.

y. 7. Then came in the magicians, the aftrologers,

_the Chaldeans, and the foothfayers, 8cc.| See the note on ch. ii. 2: and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof; becaufe they could not; before they pretended, if the dream was told, they could give the interpretation of it; but now, tho’ it was told,

they could not do it; which fhows, the vanity of, their art, the falfhood of their pretenfions, and that; they were but jugglers and impoftors. 4

¥. 8. But at the laf Daniel came.in sbefore, mey:

&c.] Whether fent for or no, is not clear; the: reafon why he came net with the. reft, might be becaufe he did not affociate with them; nor, did, they care he fhould be; among them, and. prefent at this time; and it may be, the king -had, forgot the knowledge he had of dreams; or however did not choofe to fend for him until he had; tried alh his wife men.; and. fo it was ordered by the. pros, vidence of God, and whichis the chief reafon. of all, that he fhould come laft, that the {kill of the, magicians might appear firft to be baffled, and. that Daniel, or rather Daniel's. God, might be more

known, and might be glorified: whofe. name:was Beltefhazzar, according to the name of my god; fo

called by him and his courtiers, after the name. of his god Bel, with which this name of Daniel begins; fee the note on ch..i. 7: and\in whom isthe

Jpirit of the holy gods; méaning either the, holy angels, as Saadiab, or {peaking in his heathenifh manner, having imbibed the notion of many, gods, fome holy, and fome impure; or it may be {peaking in the dialect of the Jews, he may mean the one true God, who is holy, and from whom alone is the {pirit of prophecy,.or of foretelling things to come; which he knew by former experience Daniel had: and before him I told the dream, faying, as follows: ¥.9. O Beltefhazzar, mafter of the magicians, &c.] So he called him, either becaufe he excelled them in knowledge, and was greater than. they, as Facchiades, tho’ not of their rank» and. order, which Daniel would have fcorned to have been among, and reckoned of; fo that this would have been no compliment, but a, grief unto him; or becaufe he was appointed by the king chief over them, and even over their governors; fee the note on ch. ii. 48: becaufe I know that the fpirit of the holy gods is in thee, fee the note on the preceding verfe: and no fecret troubleth thee; any ways pefplexes thy mind to find it out; it is eafy to,thee to come at; it gives thee no manner of trouble‘ to sét knowledge of it; there’s no fecret hidden from thee; all is plain before thee, and with the utmoft facility canft thou reveal.it: tel me the vifions of my dream that I have feen; that is, the meaning of them; for the king remembered this his dream, and afterwards tells. it very particularly: end: the interpretation of it; it may be rendered, that is, the interpretation of it; for that only was what the king wanted. ¥. 10. Thus were the vifions of mine head in my bed, &c.] So things appeared to my fancy thus; they ran in my head or brain in a dream)in my bed, as if I faw them with, my eyes, as-follows; for fo I thought, J few, and bebeld a tree in the midft-of the earth; an emblem of a powerful. prince well fettled, and ftrongly fupported..in his »power and government; fo the Afyrian monarch, | Ezek. xxxi. 3—g. and here Nebuchadnezzar himfelf,. as it is afterwards explained;.who.was well. eftablithed in his. monarchy, the metropolis.of which: was Babylon, and which ftood. pretty much inthe midft of the then known world: and the height thereof was great; taller than trees in common’; eons ' the the fuperiority of the Babylonian monarch over all kings and kingdoms of the earth.

y. 11. The tree grew, and was frrong, &c.] Grew higher and broader, taller and thicker, increafed in boughs and branches, and became {trong and ftable, that no winds nor ftorms could move it: this fhews the increafing power of Nebuchadnezzar, the enlargement of his dominions, and the ftability of his empire: and the height thereof reached unto heaven; higher than any on earth; expreffive of his dominion over all nations and people of the earth; or of his ambition of deity itfelf,; and fo Saadiah illuftrates it by Jf xiv. 14. I will afcend above the heights of the clouds, 8c. and the fight thereof to the end of the earth; being fo high, it was feen afar off; the fame of this great monarch reached to the ends of the earth; the eyes of all were turned to him; fome looking upon him with wonder, others with envy.

y. 12. The leaves thereof were fair, &c.] Or branches‘, as fome; and defign either the provinces belonging to his empire, which were very large and flourifhing; or the governors of them under him, as Saadiah, who made no fimall and contemptible figure; his princes were altogether kings: and the fruit thereof much; great revenues from all parts of the empire were brought to him: and in it was meat for all; the produce of the feveral countries, and the trade carried on in them, brought in a*fufficient livelihood to all the inha~ bitants: the beafts of the field had fhadow under it, the inhabitants of the feveral heathenifh nations under him, and even thofe that were moft favage, were protected in their lives and properties by him; fo princes fhould be a fkreen, a protection to their fubjects: and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof; which Saadiab interprets of the J/- raelites, in oppofition to the foreign nations, comparable’ to the beafts of the field: and all flefh was fed of it; all his fubjects fhared in the good things his victorious arms brought into his empire; all enriched, or however made comfortable, and had a fufficiency of food and raiment; fo that there was no reafon to complain of him as oppreffive to his fubjects.

¥. 13. I faw in the vifions of my head upon my bed, &c.] The king goes on to relate what other things prefented themfelves to his imagination in his dream, concerning this tree which fignified himfelf: and behold a watcher; which Saadiah interprets of Bath Kol; but Aben Ezra, Farchi, Facchiades, and Ben Melech, of an angel; fo called becaufe incorporeal, ever watches, and never fleeps, and is always attentive to, and obfervant of, the commands of God; fo the angels in the fragment of Enoch are called Egregori, watchers; and the fame word is here ufed in the Alexandrian copy. Some * render it am enemy, an holy one, according to the fenfe of the word in 1 Sam. xxviii. 16. and produce it to fhew that angels are called enemies: and an boly one; one of the holy angels that never finned, nor left their firft eftate, but continued in it; in which they are eftablifhed by Chrift, and are impeccable; are perfectly pure and holy in their nature and actions: fuch an one came down from heaven; the place of their abode, as it feemed to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream.