Can't find the answer are looking for?
Ask a Questionthe first king--Philip was king of Macedon before Alexander, but the latter was the first who, as a generalissimo of Greece, subdued the Persian empire.
present...supplications--literally, "cause to fall," &c. (compare Note, see on Jer 36:7).
face toward the ground--in humble reverence (Ge 19:1). dumb--with overwhelming awe.
God gave them knowledge--(Ex 31:2, 3; 1Ki 3:12; Job 32:8; Jas 1:5,17). Daniel had understanding in...dreams--God thus made one of the despised covenant-people eclipse the Chaldean sages in the very...
spirit of the holy gods--She remembers and repeats Nebuchadnezzar's language (Da 4:8, 9, 18). As Daniel was probably, according to Oriental custom, deprived of the office to which Nebuchadnezzar...
Daniel humbly prayed that God would discover to him the king's dream, and the meaning of it. Praying friends are valuable friends; and it well becomes the greatest and best men to desire the...
True, O king--God extorted this confession from His enemies' own mouths.
This decree promulgated throughout the vast empire of Nebuchadnezzar must have tended much to keep the Jews from idolatry in the captivity and thenceforth (Ps 76:10).
prophets...spake...to our kings...to all the people--They fearlessly warned all without respect of persons.
man...beloved--(See on Da 9:23). understand--"attend to." See Da 8:17, 18.
Why is the decree so hasty--Why were not all of us consulted before the decree for the execution of all was issued? the thing--the agitation of the king as to his dream, and his abortive...
understood by books--rather, "letters," that is, Jeremiah's letter (Jer 29:10) to the captives in Babylon; also Jer 25:11, 12; compare 2Ch36:21; Jer 30:18; 31:38. God's promises are the ground on...
this...this my lord--to avoid the tautology in English Version, join rather "this," with "servant," "How can this servant of my lord (that is, how can I who am so feeble) talk with this my lord...
cannot--Daniel, being learned in all the lore of the Chaldeans (Da 1:4), could authoritatively declare the impossibility of mere man solving the king's difficulty. soothsayers--from a root, "to cut...
A vision of two other angels, one on one side of the Hiddekel or Tigris, the other on the other side, implying that on all sides angels attend to execute God's commands. The angel addressing Daniel...
Daniel was struck with amazement and terror at so heavy a judgment coming upon so great a prince, and gives advice with tenderness and respect. It is necessary, in repentance, that we not only...
We notice to the glory of God, that though Daniel was now very old, yet he was able for business, and had continued faithful to his religion. It is for the glory of God, when those who profess...
living God--having life Himself, and able to preserve thy life; contrasted with the lifeless idols. Darius borrowed the phrase from Daniel; God extorting from an idolater a confession of the truth....
shut...up...vision--implying the vision was not to be understood for the present. In Re 22:10 it is said, "Seal not the vision, for the time is at hand." What in Daniel's time was hidden was more...
Daniel learned from the books of the prophets, especially from Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would continue seventy years, which were drawing to a close. God's promises are to...
Herodotus and Xenophon confirm Daniel as to the suddenness of the event. Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into a new channel and, guided by two deserters, marched by the dry bed into the city, while...
(De 19:19; Pr 19:5). accused--literally, "devoured the bones and flesh." It was just that they who had torn Daniel's character, and sought the tearing of his person, should be themselves given to...
displeased with himself--for having suffered himself to be entrapped into such a hasty decree (Pr 29:20). On the one hand he was pressed by the immutability of the law, fear that the princes might...
Shushan--Susa. Though then comparatively insignificant, it was destined to be the capital of Persia after Cyrus' time. Therefore Daniel is transported into it, as being the capital of the kingdom...
Daniel takes away the king's opinion of his magicians and soothsayers. The insufficiency of creatures should drive us to the all-sufficiency of the Creator. There is One who can do that for us, and...
Darius the Median--that is, Cyaxares II, the son and successor of Astyages, 569-536 B.C. Though Koresh, or Cyrus, was leader of the assault, yet all was done in the name of Darius; therefore, he...
accused the Jews--literally, "ate the rent limbs," or flesh of the Jews (compare Job 31:31; Ps 14:4; 27:2; Jer 10:25). Not probably in general, but as Da 3:12 states, Shadrach, Meshach, and...
answered--responded to God's goodness by praises. name of God--God in His revelation of Himself by acts of love, "wisdom, and might" (Jer 32:19).
to give thee...understanding--Da 8:16; Da 8:26 shows that the symbolical vision had not been understood. God therefore now gives "information" directly, instead of by symbol, which required...