Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_200.lzh/6_287.TXT

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brimstone, with all the wicked angels and men: and
the kingnora shail not be left to another people; as the
Babyloninn monarchy to the Medes arid Persians;
the Pets:an monarchy to the Greeks; and the Grecian
monarchy to the Romans; but this shall not be left to
a strange people, but shall be given to the saints of
the most High; see ch. vii. 27: but it shall break in
pieces and subdue all these kingdoms; the Babyloninn,
Persian, Grecian, and Roman; the three former in the
latter, which has swallowed them up; besides, the rest
of these monarchies, which are all signified by beasts
in an after-prophecy, are said still to live, though their
dominion is taken away, ch. vii. 12. the same nations
are in being, though not as monarchies, and have not
the same denomination, and are in other hands; now
these, and whatsoever kingdoms shall exist, when this
shali be set up, shal`l be either broke to pieces, and ut-
terly destroyed, or become subject to it; see 1 Cot.
xv. 24: and it shall stand for ever: throughout time in
this world, and to all eternity in another; it will be
an everlasting kipgdom; which is interpreted by
Irenseus {}, an ancient Christian writer iu the second cen-
tury, of the resurrection of the just; his words are,
"the great God hath signitied by Daniel things to
"come, and he hath confirmed them by the Son;
"and Christ is the stone which is cut out without
"hands, who shall destroy temporal kingdoms, and
"bring in an everlasting one, which is the resurrection
"of the just; for he saith, the God of heaven shall
"raise up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed;"
this is the first resurrection, which brings on the per-
sonal reign, in which the righteous shall reign with
him a thousand years; see Rev. xx. 5, 6.
Vet. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was
cut out of the mountain without hands, &c.] See the
note on ver. 34: and that it brake in pieces the iron, the
brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; of which the
image was made he had seen in his dream; and which
represented the several monarchies of the world in suc-
cession, and described their nature, condition, and cir-
cumstances, and the ruin of them; see the note on
ver. 35: the great God hath made known to the king what
shall come to pass hereafter; after his own death, and
in his own monarchy; and what will be the fate of
succeeding ones; what will come to pass in the several
ages of time, and what will be done in the last days;
what an everlasting kingdom there will be, when the
kingdoms of this world shall be no more; and this the
great God, who is great in knowledge as well as power,
made known to him, which none else could; and by
which he appears to be great, and above all gods, as
Nebuchadnezzar afterwards owns; and which Daniel
here suggests to him; see Isa. xlv. 2l. and xlvi. 9, 10:
and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof
sure; this is certainly the dream the king had dreamed,
for the truth of which he appeals to him; and the in-
terpretation of it given would be most surely and faith-
fully accomplished, on which he might depend; for
since the dream had been so distinctly related to him,
he had no room to doubt of the true interpretation
of it.
Ver. 46. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his
face, and worshipped Daniel, &c.] Imagining there
was something of divinity in him, that he could so ex-
actly tell him his dream, which was past and gone;
and give him the interpretation of it, respecting things
to come, which he concluded none but God could do;
and therefore, after the manner of the eastern people,
threw himseff prostrate to the earth, with his thee to it,
and gave religious adoration to Daniel; for that this.
cannot be understood of mere civil respect appears by
his iblloWing orders; and had he not thought that
Daniel was something more than a man, he, a proud
monarch, would never have behaved in this man-
net to him; but, being struck with amazement at
the relation of the dream, and the interpretation of
it, he forgot what both he and Daniel were; the one
a mighty king, the other a mere man, a servant, yea,
a captive: this shews that he was not exasperated at
the account of the fall of his tnonarchy, as might have
been expected, but was filled with wonder at the reve-
lation made: and commanded that they should offer an
oblation and sweet odours unto him; rising from the
ground, he gave orders to his servants about him,. some
of whom might be the priests of Bel, that they would
bring a meat-offering, and incense with it, and offer
them to him as to a god; but, though this was ordered,
we don't read it was done; for it cannot be thought
that Daniel, who had scrupled eating the king's food,
and drinking his wine, lest he should be defiled, and
afterwards chose rather to be cast into a den of lions
than to omit prayer to God, would ever suffer such a
piece of idolatrous worship to be paid to him; and
though he could not hinder the king's prostration and
adoration, which were very sudden; yet it is highly
probable he reasoned with the king npon it, and ear-
nestly desired that no such undue honours should be
paid to him; declaring that this knowledge was not of
himself, but of God,to whom the glory ought to be given..
'Vet. 47. The king answered unto Daniel, &c.] By
which it appears that Daniel interposed and expostu-
lured with the king, and prevented the oblation to him
as a god, and instructed him in the knowledge of the
true God he ought to worship; as the following con-
fession of the king more clearly shews: and said, of a
truth it is, that your God is a God of gods ; the God of
Daniel and his companions, and of the people of the
Jews, to whom they belonged, is above all gods that
are natned and worshipped by men: this appeared at
this time for the present, though it did not last long,.
as the following chapter shews, a most glaring truth;
that the God of Israel was above all his gods, and
/whom his magicians and people worshipped, and above
all others: and a Lord of kings; that rules over them,
and disposes of them; sets them up and pulls them
down at his pleasure; and transfers their kingdoms
from one to another, as he learned by the inter-
pretation of his dream, to which he may in this refer:
and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this
secret; of the dream, and the interpretation of it;
which he could never have done, had not his God
been a revealer of secrets, and revealed it to him.
Ver. 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, &c.']
Advanced him to posts of great honour and dignity

{s} Adv. Haeres. 1, 5. c. 26.