1 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, dreamed hath Nebuchadnezzar dreams, and his spirit doth move itself, and his sleep hath been against him;
And they dream a dream both of them, each his dream in one night, each according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker whom the king of Egypt hath, who `are' prisoners in the round-house. And Joseph cometh in unto them in the morning, and seeth them, and lo, they `are' morose; and he asketh Pharaoh's eunuchs who `are' with him in charge in the house of his lord, saying, `Wherefore `are' your faces sad to-day?' And they say unto him, `A dream we have dreamed, and there is no interpreter of it;' and Joseph saith unto them, `Are not interpretations with God? recount, I pray you, to me.'
In a dream -- a vision of night, In the falling of deep sleep on men, In slumberings on a bed. Then He uncovereth the ear of men, And for their instruction sealeth: To turn aside man `from' doing, And pride from man He concealeth.
And it cometh to pass, at the end of two years of days that Pharaoh is dreaming, and lo, he is standing by the River, and lo, from the River coming up are seven kine, of fair appearance, and fat `in' flesh, and they feed among the reeds; and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them out of the River, of bad appearance, and lean `in' flesh, and they stand near the kine on the edge of the River, and the kine of bad appearance and lean `in' flesh eat up the seven kine of fair appearance, and fat -- and Pharaoh awaketh. And he sleepeth, and dreameth a second time, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, fat and good, and lo, seven ears, thin, and blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them; and the thin ears swallow the seven fat and full ears -- and Pharaoh awaketh, and lo, a dream. And it cometh to pass in the morning, that his spirit is moved, and he sendeth and calleth all the scribes of Egypt, and all its wise men, and Pharaoh recounteth to them his dream, and there is no interpreter of them to Pharaoh. And the chief of the butlers speaketh with Pharaoh, saying, `My sin I mention this day: Pharaoh hath been wroth against his servants, and giveth me into charge in the house of the chief of the executioners, me and the chief of the bakers; and we dream a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we have dreamed. And there `is' with us a youth, a Hebrew, servant to the chief of the executioners, and we recount to him, and he interpreteth to us our dreams, `to' each according to his dream hath he interpreted, and it cometh to pass, as he hath interpreted to us so it hath been, me he put back on my station, and him he hanged.' And Pharaoh sendeth and calleth Joseph, and they cause him to run out of the pit, and he shaveth, and changeth his garments, and cometh in unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, `A dream I have dreamed, and there is no interpreter of it, and I -- I have heard concerning thee, saying, Thou understandest a dream to interpret it,' and Joseph answereth Pharaoh, saying, `Without me -- God doth answer Pharaoh with peace.' And Pharaoh speaketh unto Joseph: `In my dream, lo, I am standing by the edge of the River, and lo, out of the River coming up are seven kine, fat `in' flesh, and of fair form, and they feed among the reeds; and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them, thin, and of very bad form, and lean `in' flesh; I have not seen like these in all the land of Egypt for badness. `And the lean and the bad kine eat up the first seven fat kine, and they come in unto their midst, and it hath not been known that they have come in unto their midst, and their appearance `is' bad as at the commencement; and I awake. `And I see in my dream, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, full and good; and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them; and the thin ears swallow the seven good ears; and I tell unto the scribes, and there is none declaring to me.' And Joseph saith unto Pharaoh, `The dream of Pharaoh is one: that which God is doing he hath declared to Pharaoh; the seven good kine are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years, the dream is one; and the seven thin and bad kine which are coming up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears, blasted with an east wind, are seven years of famine; this `is' the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: That which God is doing, he hath shewn Pharaoh. `Lo, seven years are coming of great abundance in all the land of Egypt, and seven years of famine have arisen after them, and all the plenty is forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine hath finished the land, and the plenty is not known in the land because of that famine afterwards, for it `is' very grievous. `And because of the repeating of the dream unto Pharaoh twice, surely the thing is established by God, and God is hastening to do it. `And now, let Pharaoh provide a man, intelligent and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt; let Pharaoh make and appoint overseers over the land, and receive a fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty, and they gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and heap up corn under the hand of Pharaoh -- food in the cities; and they have kept `it', and the food hath been for a store for the land, for the seven years of famine which are in the land of Egypt; and the land is cut off by the famine.'
A son of twenty and five years `is' Jehoiakim in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God; against him hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon come up, and bindeth him in brazen fetters to take him away to Babylon. And of the vessels of the house of Jehovah hath Nebuchadnezzar brought in to Babylon, and putteth them in his temple in Babylon.
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, come hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and layeth siege against it; and the Lord giveth into his hand Jehoiakim king of Judah, and some of the vessels of the house of God, and he bringeth them in `to' the land of Shinar, `to' the house of his god, and the vessels he hath brought in `to' the treasure-house of his god. And the king saith, to Ashpenaz master of his eunuchs, to bring in out of the sons of Israel, (even of the royal seed, and of the chiefs,) lads in whom there is no blemish, and of good appearance, and skilful in all wisdom, and possessing knowledge, and teaching thought, and who have ability to stand in the palace of the king, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. And the king doth appoint for them a rate, day by day, of the king's portion of food, and of the wine of his drinking, so as to nourish them three years, that at the end thereof they may stand before the king.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Daniel 2
Commentary on Daniel 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
It was said (ch. 1:17) that Daniel had understanding in dreams; and here we have an early and eminent instance of it, which soon made him famous in the court of Babylon, as Joseph by the same means came to be so in the court of Egypt. This chapter is a history, but it is the history of a prophecy, by a dream and the interpretation of it. Pharaoh's dream, and Joseph's interpretation of it, related only to the years of plenty and famine and the interest of God's Israel in them; but Nebuchadnezzar's dream here, and Daniel's interpretation of that, look much higher, to the four monarchies, and the concerns of Israel in them, and the kingdom of the Messiah, which should be set up in the world upon the ruins of them. In this chapter we have,
Dan 2:1-13
We meet with a great difficulty in the date of this story; it is said to be in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, v. 1. Now Daniel was carried to Babylon in his first year, and, it should seem, he was three years under tutors and governors before he was presented to the king, ch. 1:5. How then could this happen in the second year? Perhaps, though three years were appointed for the education of other children, yet Daniel was so forward that he was taken into business when he had been but one year at school, and so in the second year he became thus considerable. Some make it to be the second year after he began to reign alone, but the fifth or sixth year since he began to reign in partnership with his father. Some read it, and in the second year, (the second after Daniel and his fellows stood before the king), in the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, or in his reign, this happened; as Joseph, in the second year after his skill in dreams, showed and expounded Pharaoh's, so Daniel, in the second year after he commenced master in that art, did this service. I would much rather take it some of these ways than suppose, as some do, that it was in the second year after he had conquered Egypt, which was the thirty-sixth year of his reign, because it appears by what we meet with in Ezekiel, that Daniel was famous both for wisdom and prevalence in prayer long before that; and therefore this passage, or story, which shows how he came to be so eminent for both these must be laid early in Nebuchadnezzar's reign. Now here we may observe,
Dan 2:14-23
When the king sent for his wise men to tell them his dream, and the interpretation of it (v. 2), Daniel, it seems, was not summoned to appear among them; the king, though he was highly pleased with him when he examined him, and thought him ten times wiser than the rest of his wise men, yet forgot him when he had most occasion for him; and no wonder, when all was done in a heat, and nothing with a cool and deliberate thought. But Providence so ordered it; that the magicians being nonplussed might be the more taken notice of, and so the more glory might redound to the God of Daniel. But, though Daniel had not the honour to be consulted with the rest of the wise men, contrary to all law and justice, by an undistinguishing sentence, he stands condemned with them, and till he has notice brought him to prepare for execution he knows nothing of the matter. How miserable is the case of those who live under arbitrary government, as this of Nebuchadnezzar's! How happy are we, whose lives are under the protection of the law and methods of justice, and lie not thus at the mercy of a peevish and capricious prince!
We have found already, in Ezekiel, that Daniel was famous both for prudence and prayer; as a prince he had power with God and by man; by prayer he had power with God, by prudence he had power with man, and in both he prevailed. Thus did he find favour and good understanding in the sight of both, and in these verses we have a remarkable instance of both.
Dan 2:24-30
We have here the introduction to Daniel's declaring the dream, and the interpretation of it.
Dan 2:31-45
Daniel here gives full satisfaction to Nebuchadnezzar concerning his dream and the interpretation of it. That great prince had been kind to this poor prophet in his maintenance and education; he had been brought up at the king's cost, preferred at court, and the land of his captivity had hereby been made much easier to him than to others of his brethren. And now the king is abundantly repaid for all the expense he had been at upon him; and for receiving this prophet, though not in the name of a prophet, he had a prophet's reward, such a reward as a prophet only could give, and for which that wealthy mighty prince was now glad to be beholden to him. Here is,
Dan 2:46-49
One might have expected that when Nebuchadnezzar was contriving to make his own kingdom everlasting he would be enraged at Daniel, who foretold the fall of it and that another kingdom of another nature should be the everlasting kingdom; but, instead of resenting it as an affront, he received it as an oracle, and here we are told what the expressions were of the impressions it made upon him.