John Calvin Commentary Daniel 2:20

"Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his." — Daniel 2:20 (ASV)

Daniel here pursues his narrative and thanks God after King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had been made known to him, while he relates the sense of the words he had used. May God’s name be blessed from age to age, he says. We ought daily to wish for this, for when we pray that God’s name may be hallowed, continuance is denoted in this form of prayer.

But Daniel here breaks forth into the praises of God with greater vehemence because he acknowledges his singular benefit in being snatched away from death, together with his companions, beyond his expectation. Whenever God confers any remarkable blessing on his servants, they are the more stirred up to praise him, as David says (Psalms 40:3), You have put a new song into my mouth.

And Isaiah also uses this form of speech twice (Isaiah 42:10), as if God had given him material for a new and unusual song, in dealing so wonderfully with his Church. So also, there is no doubt that Daniel here wished to praise God in a remarkable manner, since he had received a rare proof of his favor in being delivered from instant death.

Afterwards he adds, whose (or since his) is the wisdom and the strength; for the relative here is taken as a causal particle, and the sentence should be understood in that sense. The additional particles may serve to strengthen the expression and be taken exclusively, as if he had said—to God alone ought the praise of wisdom and virtue to be ascribed.

Without him, indeed, both are sought in vain. But these attributes do not seem to suit the immediate purpose, for Daniel ought rather to celebrate God’s praises because this vision was revealed to him, and this was enough to content him.

However, Daniel may here speak of God’s glory as deriving from his power as well as his wisdom. For example, when Scripture wishes to distinguish the true God from all fabrications, it presents these two principles: first, God governs all things by his own hand and retains them under his sway; and secondly, nothing is hidden from him. These points cannot be separated when his majesty is to be demonstrated.

We see mankind fabricating deities for themselves, thus multiplying gods and distributing to each his own office, because they cannot rest in simple unity when speaking of God.

Some imagine God retains only half his attributes—for instance, those who idly speak of mere foreknowledge. They admit that nothing is hidden from God and acknowledge his knowledge of all things; this they attempt to prove by the prophecies found in the Scriptures. What they say is true, but they greatly lessen the glory of God. Indeed, they tear it to pieces by likening him to Apollo, whose role it formerly was, in the opinion of the pagans, to predict future events. When they sought predictions of future events, they endowed Apollo with the power of revealing future occurrences to them. Many today think God is able to foresee all things but suppose him either to dissemble or to purposely withdraw from the government of the world.

Lastly, their notion of God’s foreknowledge is merely a cold and idle speculation. This is why I said they rob God of half his glory and, as far as they can, tear him to pieces.

But Scripture, when it wishes to assert what is unique to God, inseparably joins these two things: first, God foresees all things, since nothing is hidden from his eyes; and next, he appoints future events and governs the world by his will, allowing nothing to happen by chance or without his direction.

Daniel here assumes this principle, or rather unites the two, by asserting that Israel’s God alone deserves the name, since both wisdom and strength are in his power.

We must remember how God is defrauded of his just praise when we do not connect these two attributes: his universal foresight and his government of the world, which allows nothing to happen without his permission.

But as it would be too inadequate an assertion that to God alone belong wisdom and strength unless his wisdom was conspicuous and his strength openly acknowledged, it therefore follows immediately—