John Gill Commentary Daniel 4

Nebuchadnezzar the king. This and the two following verses are annexed to the preceding chapter in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; as if the author of the division of the chapters thought that Nebuchadnezzar proposed by this public proclamation to celebrate the praise of the Lord, on account of the wonderful deliverance of the three Jews from the fiery furnace; whereas they are a preface to a narrative of a dream, and an event which concerned himself, and most properly begin a new chapter, as they do in the Syriac and Arabic versions.

The edict begins, not with pompous and extravagant titles, as was the manner of the eastern monarchs, and still is, but only plainly "Nebuchadnezzar the king"; for he was now humbled under the mighty hand of God; whether his conversion was real is not evident; yet, certain it is, he expresses himself in stronger language concerning the divine Being and his works, and under a deeper sense of his sovereignty and majesty, than ever he did before.

This proclamation is directed unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; belonging to his kingdom, as Aben Ezra; and these were many; besides the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, also the Medes and Persians, the Egyptians, the Jews, and the nations round about them; and also the Spaniards, Moors, and Thracians, with others: but there is no reason to limit this to his own subjects, though first designed; for it was his desire that all people whatever in the known world might read, hear, and consider, what the grace of God had done unto him, with him, and for him, and learn to fear and reverence him:

peace be multiplied unto you: a wish for all kind of outward happiness and prosperity, and an increase of it; thus it becomes a prince to wish for all his subjects, and even for all the world; for there cannot be a greater blessing than peace, nor a greater judgment than war. This phrase is borrowed from the common salutation in eastern countries, and is used often in the New Testament for spiritual and eternal peace.

I thought it good Or, "fair" ^F25 and beautiful, highly becoming me, what was my duty, and what might be profitable and beneficial to others, and make for the glory of the great God of heaven and earth.

to show the signs and wonders the high God has wrought toward me; to declare by writing the wonderful things God, who is above all, the most high God, had done unto him, by giving him a wonderful dream, exactly describing his future case and condition, and then as wonderful an interpretation of it, and which was as wonderfully fulfilled, and, after all, in a wonderful manner restoring him to the exercise of his reason, and the administration of his kingdom, after both had departed from him.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: (rpv) "pulchrum", Montanus, Grotius, Gejerus, Michaelis; "decet me", Junius & Tremellius.

How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders !
&c.] They are great, very great, exceeding great; so great that it cannot be said, nor even conceived how great they are, what a display of wisdom, power, and goodness is in them; they are wonderful beyond expression and conception; and so strong and mighty as not to be resisted and made void by all the powers of nature, earth, or hell; and if this may be said of his works of providence, and his miracles of that, how much more of his works and miracles of grace! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom ;
Nebuchadnezzar's reign, though a long one, had an end, and so have all others; but the kingdom of God is for ever; the kingdom of providence, and also of grace; the kingdom of his Son, the Messiah, as in (Daniel 2:44) from which Nebuchadnezzar had learned this: and his dominion is from generation to generation ;
or, "with generation and generation" ^F1 ; it goes along, and continues with all generations, and will do so to the end of time.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: (rdw rd Me) "cum generatione et generatione", Pagninus, Montanus, Michaelis; "cum omni aetate", Piscator.

I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house
Being returned from his wars, and having obtained victory over the Egyptians, and other nations, and made himself an universal monarch; and now was in entire rest from all his enemies; enjoying himself in his family, and among his courtiers, and nothing to disturb him from any quarter.

Josephus ^F2 says this was a little after the history of the former chapter; but it must be many years after that: he reigned forty five years; one year after this dream, it came to pass; it was seven years fulfilling, and he lived after his restoration a year or two; so that this must be about the thirty fifth year of his reign. Bishop Usher ^F3 and Mr. Whiston ^F4 place it in the year of the world 3434 A.M., and before Christ 570; and so Dr. Prideaux ^F5 . Mr. Bedford ^F6 puts it in the year 569:

and flourishing in my palace :
in health of body, in rigour of mind, abounding with riches; indulging himself in all sensual pleasures; adored by his subjects, caressed by his courtiers, and in fame throughout the whole world: a new palace was built by him, of which (Daniel 4:30) , being, as Dr. Prideaux ^F7 says, four times as large as the old one; eight miles in compass; surrounded with three walls; and had hanging gardens in it, he made for his wife.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Joseph. Antiqu. l. 10. c. 10. sect. 6.
• F3: Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3434.
• F4: Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
• F5: Connexion, p. 92.
• F6: Scripture Chronology, p. 710.
• F7: Connexion par. 1, B. 2. p. 102.

I saw a dream which made me afraid Things were represented to his fancy in a dream, as if he saw them with his eyes, as the tree, its leaves and fruit; the shaking and cutting it down to the stump; and though he did not understand the meaning of it, yet he thought it portended some evil, which threw him into a panic; he was afraid that something bad would befall him, though he knew not what:

and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me ; the thoughts that came into his mind while he was upon his bed dreaming, and the things which were represented to his fancy in his brain, he remembered when awake, gave him a great deal of trouble and uneasiness, what should be the meaning of them, and what would be the issue and event of these things.