THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL.
VERSE 19. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of Heaven. 20. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his; 21; and he changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings; he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. 22. He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee; for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. Whether or not the answer came while Daniel and his companions were yet offering up their petitions, we are not informed. If it did, it shows their importunity in the matter; for it was through a night vision that God revealed himself in their behalf, which would show that they continued their supplications, as might reasonably be inferred, far into the night, and ceased not till the answer was obtained. Or, if their season of prayer had closed, and God at a subsequent time sent the answer, it would show us, as is sometimes the case, that prayers are not unavailing though not immediately answered. Some think the matter was made known to Daniel by his dreaming the same dream that Nebuchadnezzar had; but Matthew Henry considers it more probable that “when he was awake, and continuing instant in prayer, and watching in the same, the dream itself and the interpretation of it were communicated to him by the ministry of an angel, abundantly to his satisfaction.” The words, night vision, mean anything that is seen, whether through dreams or visions. Daniel immediately offered up praise to God for his gracious dealing with them; and while his prayer is not preserved, his responsive thanksgiving is fully recorded. God is honored by our rendering him praise for the things he has done for us, as well as by our acknowledging through prayer our need of his help. Let Daniel’s course be our example in this respect. Let no mercy from the hand of God fail of its due return of thanksgiving and praise. Were not ten lepers cleansed? Where are the nine? Daniel had the utmost confidence in what had been shown him. He did not first go to the king, to see if what had been revealed to him was indeed the king’s dream; but he immediately praised God for having answered his prayer. Although the matter was revealed to Daniel, he did not take honor to himself as though it was by his prayers alone that this thing had been obtained, but immediately associated his companions with himself, and acknowledged it to be as much an answer to their prayers as to his own. It was, said he, “what we desired of Thee,” and thou hast made it “known unto us.” VERSE 24. Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus unto him: Destroy not the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation. Daniel’s first plea is for the wise men of Babylon. Destroy them not; for the king’s secret is revealed. True, it was through no merit of theirs or their heathen systems of divination that this revelation was made; they were worthy of just as much condemnation as before. But their own confession of utter impotence in the matter was humiliation enough for them; and Daniel was anxious that they should so far partake of the benefits shown to him as to have their lives spared. Thus they were saved because there was a man of God among them. And thus it ever is. For the sake of Paul and Silas, the bands of all the prisoners were loosed. Acts xvi, 26. For the sake of Paul, the lives of all that sailed with him were saved. Chap. xxvii, 24. These are but specimens of the countless instances all along the track of time in which the wicked have been benefited by the blessings of the righteous. Well would it be if they would remember the obligations under which they are thus placed. And what saves the world now? For whose sake is it still spared? For the sake of the few righteous persons who are yet left. Remove these, and how long would the wicked be suffered to run their guilty career? No longer than the Sodomites were suffered, after Lot had departed from their polluted and polluting presence. Yet the wicked will despise, ridicule, and oppress, the very ones on whose account it is that they are still permitted the enjoyment of life and all its blessings. VERSE 25. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation. It is ever a characteristic of ministers and courtiers to ingratiate themselves with their sovereign. So here Arioch represented that he had found a man who could make known the desired interpretation; as though with great disinterestedness in behalf of the king, he had been searching for some one to solve his difficulty, and had at last found him. In order to see through this deception of his chief executioner, the king had but to remember, as he probably did, his interview with Daniel, verse 16, and Daniel’s promise, if time could be granted, to show the interpretation thereof. VERSE 26. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 27. Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; 28; but there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these. Art thou able to make known the dream? was the king’s doubtful salutation to Daniel, as he came into his presence. Notwithstanding his previous experience, the king seems to have questioned Daniel’s ability, so young and inexperienced, to make known a matter in which the aged and venerable magicians and soothsayers had utterly failed. Daniel declared plainly that the wise men, the astrologers, the soothsayers, and magicians could not make known this secret. It was beyond their power. Therefore the king should not be angry with them, nor put confidence in their inefficient superstitions. He then proceeds to make known the true God who rules in Heaven, and is the only revealer of secrets. And he it is, says Daniel, who maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. VERSE 29. As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. 30. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Here is brought out another of the commendable traits of Nebuchadnezzar’s character. Unlike some rulers who fill up the present with folly and debauchery, without regard to the future, he thought forward upon the days to come, with an anxious desire to know with what events they should be filled; doubtless that he might the better know how to make a wise improvement of the present. It was for this reason that God gave him this dream, which we must regard as a token of the divine favor toward this king; as there were many other ways in which the truth involved in his dream could have been brought out, equally to the honor of God’s name, and the good of his people at that time, and the benefit of subsequent generations. Yet God would not work for the king independently of his own people; hence, though he gave the dream to the king, he sent the interpretation through one of his own acknowledged servants. Daniel first disclaimed all credit for himself in the transaction, and then to modify somewhat the feelings of pride which it would have been natural for the king to have, in view of being thus noticed by the God of high Heaven, he informed him indirectly that, although the dream had been given to him, it was not for his sake altogether that the interpretation was sent, but for their sakes through whom it should be made known. Ah! God had some servants there, and it was for them he was working. They are of more value in his sight than the mightiest kings and potentates of earth. Had it not been for them, the king would never have had the interpretation of his dream, probably not even the dream itself. Thus, when traced to their source, all favors upon whomever bestowed, are found to be due to the regard which God has for his own children. How comprehensive was the work of God in this instance. By this one thing of revealing the king’s dream to Daniel, he accomplished the following objects: 1. He made known to the king the things he desired. 2. He saved his servants who trusted in him. 3. He brought conspicuously before the Chaldean nation the knowledge of the true God. 4. He poured contempt on the false systems of the soothsayers and magicians. And 5. He honored his own name, and exalted his servants in their eyes.