Daniel2chapter 2

Daniel 2:14

“Captain of the king’s guard - Chief of the king’s executioners or slaughter men. Margin, רב תבחיא rab tabachaiya, chief of the butchers, he that took off the heads of those whom the king ordered to be slain, because they had in any case displeased him. “Go and bring me the head of Giaffer.” The honorable butcher went and brought the head in a bag on a dish. It was Herod’s chief butcher that brought the head of John the Baptist in a dish to the delicate daughter of Herodias. This was the custom of the country.”

Daniel 2:16

“That he would give him time - That is, that he might seek unto God for a revelation of the thing. The Chaldeans dared not even to promise this; they would only pledge themselves for the interpretation, provided the king would furnish the dream. Daniel engages both to find the lost dream, and to give the proper interpretation.”

Daniel 2:18

“O what a craftsman this Spirit is! There is no delay in learning whatever he wills. As soon as he touches the mind, he teaches, and merely to have touched is to have taught. For as soon as he illuminates the human soul, he transforms it; he suddenly takes away what it was, and suddenly produces what it was not.”

Daniel 2:20

“Daniel answered and said - The word “answer,” in the Scriptures, often occurs substantially in the sense of “speak” or “say.” It does not always denote a reply to something that has been said by another, as it does with us, but is often used when a speech is commenced, as if one were replying to something that “might” be said in the case, or as meaning that the circumstances in the case gave rise to the remark.”

Daniel 2:21

“And he changeth the times and the seasons - The object of this is to assert the general control of God in reference to all changes which occur. The assertion is made, undoubtedly, in view of the revolutions in empire which Daniel now saw, from the signification of the dream, were to take place under the Divine hand. Foreseeing now these vast changes denoted by different parts of the image Dan 2:36-45, stretching into far-distant times, Daniel was led to ascribe to God the control over “all” the revolutions which occur on earth.”

Daniel 2:23

“What was hidden from the celebrated Chaldeans, who made the interpreting of dreams their profession, is revealed to Daniel, a captive-Jew, a babe, much their junior. God would hereby put honour upon the Spirit of prophecy just when he was putting contempt upon the spirit of divination.”

Daniel 2:24

“Note, Since God shows common kindness to the evil and good, we should do so too, and be ready to save the lives of even bad men, Matt. v. 45 . A good man is a common good.”

Daniel 2:25

“Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste - The Chaldee word used here implies “in tumultuous haste,” as of one who was violently excited, or in a state of trepidation, from בהל bâhal - “to tremble, to be in trepidation.” The trepidation in this case may have arisen from one or both of two causes: (1) exultation, or joy, that the great secret was discovered; or (2) joy that the effusion of blood might be stayed, and that there might be now no necessity to continue the execution of the sentence against the wise men.”

Daniel 2:26

“Belteshazzar - By this name of Belteshazzar he had given Daniel, he took courage as if he might expect some great thing from him: for the word signifies the keeper of secret treasure.”

Daniel 2:28

“There is a God in heaven - To distinguish him from those idols, the works of men’s hands; and from the false gods in which the Chaldeans trusted. In the latter days - A phrase which, in the prophets, generally means the times of the Messiah. God is about to show what shall take place from this time to the latest ages of the world. And the vision most certainly contains a very extensive and consecutive prophecy; which I shall treat more largely at the close of the chapter, giving in the mean time a short exposition.”

Daniel 2:30

“But as for me - So far as I am concerned in this matter, or whatever skill or wisdom I may evince in the interpretation, it is not to be traced to myself. The previous verse commences with the expression “as for thee;” and in this verse, by the phrase “as for me,” Daniel puts himself in strong contrast with the king.”

Daniel 2:31

“Thou, O king, sawest - Margin, “wast seeing.” The margin is in accordance with the Chaldee. The language is properly what denotes a prolonged or attentive observation. He was in an attitude favorable to vision, or was looking with intensity, and there appeared before him this remarkable image. Compare Dan 7:1-2, Dan 7:4, Dan 7:6. It was not a thing which appeared for a moment, and then vanished, but which remained so long that he could contemplate it with accuracy. And, behold, a great image - Chaldee, “one image that was grand” - שׂגיא חד צלם tselēm chad s'agı̂y'.”

Daniel 2:32

“Head was of fine gold - The Babylonish empire, the first and greatest. Breast and his arms of silver - The Medo-Persian empire, under Cyrus, etc. His belly and his thighs of brass - The Macedonian empire, under Alexander the Great, and his successors.”

Daniel 2:33

“The clay, in Da 2:41, "potter's clay," Da 2:43, "miry clay," means "earthenware," hard but brittle (compare Ps 2:9; Re 2:27, where the same image is used of the same event); the feet are stable while bearing only direct pressure, but easily broken to pieces by a blow (Da 2:34), the iron intermixed not retarding, but hastening, such a result.”

Daniel 2:34

“The thing is, I think, a dark saying, a shadow of what should come. For what is the stone that is laid but Christ Himself? for of Him Isaiah says, "And I will lay in the foundations of Sion a costly stone, precious, elect:" and Daniel likewise, "A stone was cut out without hands," that is, Christ was born without a man.”

Daniel 2:35

“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor - The word rendered “together” (כצרה kachădâh) our translators would seem to have understood as referring to “time;” to its being done simultaneously. The more literal interpretation, however, is, “as one;” that is, “they were beaten small as one,” referring to identity of condition. They were all reduced to one indiscriminate mass; to such a mass that the original materials could no longer be distinguished, and would all be blown away together.”

Daniel 2:36

“This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king - Daniel here speaks in his own name, and in the name of his companions. Hence, he says, “we will tell the interpretation.” It was in answer to their united supplications Dan 2:18, that this meaning of the vision had been made known to him; and it would not only have been a violation of the rules of modesty, but an unjust assumption, if Daniel had claimed the whole credit of the revelation to himself.”

Daniel 2:37

“Thou, O King, art a king of kings - The phrase “king of kings” is a Hebraism, to denote a supreme monarch, or one who has other kings under him as tributary, Ezr 7:12; Eze 26:7. As such it is applied by way of eminence to the Son of God, in Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16. As here used, it means that Nebuchadnezzar ruled over tributary kings and princes, or that he was the most eminent of the kings of the earth.”

Daniel 2:38

“And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heavens, hath he given into thy hand - This is evidently general language, and is not to be pressed literally. It is designed to say that he ruled over the whole world; that is, the world as then known. This is common language applied in the Scriptures to the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman kingdoms.”

Daniel 2:39

“That Medo-Persia is the second kingdom appears from Da 5:28 and Da 8:20. Isa 21:2. inferior--"The kings of Persia were the worst race of men that ever governed an empire" [PRIDEAUX].”

Daniel 2:40

"And there shall be a fourth empire like unto iron. Just as iron breaks to pieces and overcomes all else, so it shall break to pieces and shatter all these preceding empires . ..." Now the fourth empire, which clearly refers to the Romans, is the iron empire which breaks in pieces and overcomes all others.

Daniel 2:41

“NEWTON, who understands the Roman empire to be parted into the ten kingdoms already (whereas TREGELLES makes them future), explains the "clay" mixture as the blending of barbarous nations with Rome by intermarriages and alliances, in which there was no stable amalgamation, though the ten kingdoms retained much of Rome's strength.”

Daniel 2:42

“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken - Margin, “brittle.” The margin is the more correct rendering of the Chaldee word (תבירה tebı̂yrâh). It means “frail, fragile” - easily broken, but not necessarily that it was actually broken. That did not occur until the stone cut out of the mountain impinged on it.”

Daniel 2:43

“And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men - Various explanations have been given of this verse, and it certainly is not of easy interpretation. The phrase “seed of men,” would properly denote something different from the original stock that was represented by iron; some foreign admixture that would be so unlike that, and that would so little amalgamate with it, as to be properly represented by clay as compared with iron. Prof.”

Daniel 2:44

“A kingdom which shall never be destroyed - The extensive and extending empire of Christ. Shall not be left to other people - All the preceding empires have swallowed up each other successively; but this shall remain to the end of the world.”

Daniel 2:45

“And the gold - This denotes the small beginning of Christ's visible kingdom, and the different rise of Christ from all other; his conception by the Holy Ghost, without father and mother, respectively as to his two natures.”

Daniel 2:47

Lord of kings--The world power shall at last have to acknowledge this (Re 17:14; 19:16); even as Nebuchadnezzar, who had been the God-appointed "king of kings" (Da 2:37), but who had abused the trust, is constrained by God's servant to acknowledge that God is the true "Lord of kings."

Daniel 2:49

“Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon - He wished his three companions promoted, who had shared his anxieties, and helped him by their prayers. They all had places of trust, in which they could do much good, and prevent much evil. Daniel sat in the gate of the king - That is, was the chief officer in the palace; and the greatest confidant and counselor of the king. But whatever his influence and that of his friends was, it extended only over the province of Babylon; not through the empire.”