'now remembers and observes; see ver. 17, 18:
have changed the king's word; made it null and
void, refused to obey it, knowing it was their duty to
obey God rather than man; so that the king was forced
iS.change his word, and, instead of obliging them to
worship his image, blesses their God: and yielded their
bodie$; freely gave them up, without any resistance,
htto the hands of those who were ordered by the king
to take and bind them, and cast them into the furnace,
to which also they readily yielded themselves: so the
;Septnag{at and Arabic versions add, to the fire, that
tttey might not serve nor worship any god except their
own God; they chose rather to deliver up themselves
to death, to be burnt in a furnace, than to serve any
other god than the God of Israel; s,tch was their con-
stancy and firmness of mind; such their attachment
to the true God, and their faithfulness to him.
Vet. 0_9. Therefore I make a decree, &c.] Or, a de-
cree is made by me" ; which is as follows: that every
people, nation, and language, which speak any thing
amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-nego; any thing indecent, blasphemous, or by
way of contempt: he does not give orders that their
God should be worshippeal, or signify that he would
worship him himself, and quit his false deities; no,
only that he should not be spoken against, as very
probably before this time he was, to the great grief of
these good men; and to whoa, therefore such an edict
would be grateful, though no more could be obtained;
by which it was enacted, that any such person, so
blaspheming and reproaching, shall be cut to pieces,
and their houses shall be made a dunghil ; see the note
on ch. ii. 5: because there is no other god that can de-
liver after this manner; no, not even Bel himself, as
was plain; for he could not deliver the men at the
mouth of the furnace, that cast in these three, for they
were destroyed by the force of the flame and smoke
that came out; but the true God delivered the three
men cast in, even in the midst of it; this was beyond
all contradiction, and therefore he could not but
own it.
Ver. 30. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach.,
and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon, &c.] He
restored them to their places of trust and profit, and
increased their honours: or, made them to prosper, as
the word {x} signifies; they flourished in his court, and
became very great and famous. The Septuagint and
Arabic versions add, "and he counted them worthy
"to preside over all the Jews that were in his king-
gg donts'~,

CHAP. IV.

This chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar him-
self; and was either taken out of his archives, or giv. en
by him to Daniel, who under divine inspiration m-
serted it into this work of his; and a very useful in-
struction it contains, shewing the sovereignty of God
over the greatest kings and potentates of the earth, and
.this acknowledged by one of the proudest monarchs
that ever lived upon it. It begins with a preface,
saluting all nations, and declaring the greatness and
power of God, ver. 1, 2, 3. then follows the narrative
of a dream the king dreamed, which troubled him;
upon which he called for his wise men to interpret it,
but in vain; at length he told it to Daniel, ver.
the dream itself; which being told, astonished Daniel,
the king being so much interested in it, ver. 10--19.
the interpretation of it, with Daniel's advice upon. it,
is in ver. 20--27. the fulfilment of it, 'time and occasion
thereof, ver. 28--33. Nebuchadnezzar's restoration to
his reason and kingdom, for which he praises God,
ver. 34--37.
Ver. 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, &c.]. This and
the two following verses are annexed to the preceding
chapter in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Septnag{at
and Vulgate Latin versions; as if the author of the
division of the chapters thought that Nebuchad-
nezzar proposed by this public proclamation to
celebrate the praise of the Lord, on account of the
wonderful deliv-erance 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 man-
ner 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 coneening
the divine Being and his works, and undera deeper
sense of Iris sovereignty and majesty, than ever he did
before. This proclamation is directed unto allpeople,
nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; be-
longing to his kingdom, as Aben Ezra; and these were
many; besides the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Chal-
deans, 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 tmto 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 sub-
jects, 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.

{w} \^Mej Myv ynm\^ a me proponitur edictum, Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator, Broughtonus; a me positum decretum, Montanus, Cocceius,
Michaelis.
{x} \^xluh\^ prosperare fecit, Munster; prosperari jussit, Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator; prosperos felicesque fecit, Gejerus.