Charles Ellicott Commentary Daniel 2

The second year. —Nebuchadnezzar was proleptically spoken of as “king of Babylon” in Daniel 1:1, because his father did not die until after the battle of Carchemish. On the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, see Notes on 2 Kings 24:1.

Dreams. —Spoken of in Daniel 2:3 as “a dream.” The one dream consisted of several parts, and is therefore spoken of in the plural. For the effects of the dream on the king’s mind, compare Genesis 41:8.

His sleep brake.—That is, his sleep finished. A similar use of the word occurs in Daniel 6:18 and Esther 6:1. The anxiety which the vision caused him prevented him from sleeping again.

And no wonder. The battle of Carchemish, which forced Egypt to retire within her ancient frontiers, had indeed made Nebuchadnezzar master of all the district east of the Euphrates; but there was a growing power northward of him, the Median, which he may have dreaded, though at this time he was on good terms with it, and this may have increased his alarm and led him to feel some presentiment of evil.

Magicians.— Heb. chartummim, so called, most probably, from the pencil or stylus with which they wrote. The word is elsewhere used of the Egyptian magicians. (See Schrader, Keil-Inschriften, p. 26; Records of the Past, vol. 1 p. 131.)

Astrologers.— Heb. ashshaphim, a name derived from the whisperings or mutterings made by them while employed in their incantations. They are mentioned by Daniel only.

Sorcerers.— Heb. mekashshaphim; are spoken of in the Pentateuch both as male and female (for example, Deuteronomy 18:10). They are mentioned by Isaiah (Isaiah 47:9, 12) as prevalent in the Babylon of his days. Probably the Chaldæans spoken of in this verse did not form a separate class of magicians, but denoted the priests, such as those mentioned Herod. i. 181, and were contained in the first class of magicians mentioned in the verse. It appears that Daniel excelled (Daniel 1:17) in all classes of magic learning, whether it required a knowledge of “learning, wisdom, or dreams.”

I have dreamed.— It has been questioned whether the king had really forgotten his dream, or whether he only pretended to have done so in order that he might prove the skill of his wise men. The conduct of the Chaldeans (Daniel 2:10) makes the latter hypothesis possible. However, it is more in accordance with what is stated about the anxious condition of the king’s mind to assume that he remembered a portion of the dream, but that he had lost the general outline of it.

In Syriac.—Probably a fresh title, indicating to the copyist that the Chaldee portion of the book begins here. It has been conjectured that this portion of the book (Daniel 2:4–7) is a Chaldee translation of an original Hebrew work, but there is no authority for the conjecture. God is about to reveal facts connected with the Gentile world, and therefore a Gentile language is used as the vehicle of the revelation. (See 1 Timothy 2:3–4; Matthew 2:1–2).

Live for ever.—For this common form of salutation, compare Daniel 3:9; Daniel 5:10, etc.

Is gone from me.— This difficult word, whose etymology is very uncertain, appears only here and in Daniel 2:8. It seems to mean, “The order has been published by me (Isaiah 45:23), and therefore cannot be recalled.”

Cut in pieces.— This was by no means an uncommon form of punishment (See Smith’s Assurbanipal, pp. 137, 245).