Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 1:17

"Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams." — Daniel 1:17 (ASV)

As for these four children — On the word “children,” see the notes at Daniel 1:4. Compare Daniel 1:6.

God gave them knowledge and skill — See the notes at Daniel 1:9. There is no reason to suppose that in the “knowledge and skill” referred to here, it implies that there was anything miraculous, or any direct inspiration. Inspiration was evidently confined to Daniel and pertained to what is said concerning “visions and dreams.” The fact that all this was to be attributed to God as his gift is in accordance with the common method of speaking in the Scriptures; and it is also in accordance with fact, that all knowledge is to be traced to God. See Exodus 31:2-3.

God formed the intellect; he preserves the exercise of reason; he gives us instructors; he gives us clearness of perception; he enables us to take advantage of bright thoughts and helpful insights that occur in our own minds, just as he sends rain, dew, and sunshine on the fields of the farmer, and endows him with skill.

Compare Isaiah 28:26, For his God doth instruct him. The knowledge and skill that we may acquire, therefore, should be attributed to God as much as the farmer’s success should. Compare Job 32:8, For there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. In the case before us, there is no reason to doubt that the natural powers of these young men had been diligently applied during the three years of their trial (Daniel 1:5), and under the advantages of a strict course of temperance, and that the knowledge spoken of here was the result of such application to their studies. On the meaning of the words “knowledge” and “skill” here, see the notes at Daniel 1:4.

In all learning and wisdom — See also the notes at Daniel 1:4.

And Daniel had understanding — This shows that in that respect there was a special endowment in his case: a kind of knowledge imparted that could be communicated only by special inspiration. The margin is, “he made Daniel understand.” The margin is in accordance with the Hebrew, but the sense is the same.

In all visions — On the word rendered “visions” – חזון châzôn – see the notes at Isaiah 1:1, and the introduction to Isaiah, Section 7. (4). It is a term frequently employed in reference to prophecy and designates the usual method by which future events were made known. The prophet was permitted to see those events as if they were made to pass before his eyes, and to describe them as if they were objects of sight. Here the word seems to be used to denote all supernatural appearances, all that God permitted him to see that in any way foreshadowed the future. It would seem that men who were not inspired were occasionally permitted to behold such supernatural appearances, though they were not able to interpret them. Thus, their attention would be particularly called to them, and they would be prepared to admit the truth of what the interpreter communicated to them. Compare Daniel 4:0; Daniel 5:5–6; Genesis 40:5; Genesis 41:1–7.

Daniel was so endowed that he could interpret the meaning of these mysterious appearances and thus convey important messages to men. The same endowment had been conferred on Joseph when he was in Egypt. See the passages referred to in Genesis.

And dreams — This was one of the ways by which the will of God was anciently communicated to men. (See Introduction to Isaiah, Section 7. (2), and the notes at Job 33:14-18.) Daniel, like Joseph before him, was supernaturally endowed to explain these messages that God sent to men, or to unfold these preintimations of coming events. This was a kind of knowledge that the Chaldeans particularly sought, and on which they especially prided themselves. It was important, in order to stain the pride of all human glory, and to make the wisdom of the wise in Babylon be seen as comparative folly, to endow one man from the land of the prophets most amply with this knowledge, just as it was important to do the same thing at the court of Pharaoh by the superior endowments of Joseph (Genesis 41:8).