Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_200.lzh/6_288.TXT

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he was a great man before in spiritual things, in which
he was made great by the Lord; and now he was made
a great man in worldly things, through ttle providence
of God; those that honour him he will honour: and
gave him many great gifts : gifts great in value, and
many in number; rich garments, gold, silver, pre-
cious stones, and large estates to support his honour
and grandeur; and which Daniel accepted of, not
merely for his own use, but to do good with to his
poor brethren the Jews in captivity: and made him
ruler over the whole prorince of Babylon; the whole
monarchy was divided into several provinces, over each
of which was a deputy-gov, eruor; tbis ot'Babylon was
the cllief of' them, Babylon being the metropolis of the
empire; the whole government of which, and all be-
longing to it, was given to I)aniel; a proof of the
king's high esteem for him: and chiefofthc governors
over all the ~ise men of BabSlon; here was an uni-
versity consisting of several colleges, over each of
which there was a gorerunt, and Daniel was the pre-
sident of them all; or the principal or chancellor of' the
university: this office he might accept of, that he
might have an opportunity of inculcating true know-
ledge, and of checking and correcting what was im-
pious and unlawful.
Ver. 49. Then Daniel requested of the king, &c.]
Being in his fayour, he improved it to the advantage
of his friends, whom he did not forget in his elevated
state; but made suit to the king for tbcm to be put
into places of trust and honour, which the king listened
to: and he set Shadrach, Mecshttch, and Abed-nego, over
the affairs oF the province of Babylon ; that is, under
Daniel, who was nlade ruler over it; these were de-
puties under him, appointed to take care of some
affairs, which would have been too troublesome to
him, and would bare took up too much of his time
from court; where he chose to be, to improve his
interest on behalf of the church of God. De Dieu
thinks, from the use of the word iu Cb. uldce, and/'rom
what answers to it in the Arabic language, that it was
agriculture, the fruits of' the field, and the revenues
arislug from thence, which tht. se men had tt}e care of:
this Daniel got for them; that as they had assisted
him iu their prayers to God, to obtain the dream, and
the interpretation of it, so they might share with him
in his honoursand protits be hadou the account thereof;
and probably he migbt suggest this to Nebucbadnez-
zar, which the more easily engaged him to grant the
request: but Danid sat iu the gate of the king ; eitller
as judge there, or to introduce persons into the king's
presence: or it may be rendered, in the king's court t;
he was oilier man at court, and always resi,l,'d there;
he was prime minister and privy counsellor: it was
usual with the eastern nations to call their court a
port, as the Turks do at this day; the Ottoman court
is called the Port.

C H A P. II[.

In this chapter an account is given of a golden image
made by Nebuchadnezzar; its bighess; and where
placed, ver. 1. a summons to all his princes, governors,
and officers, to attend the dedicauon of' it, yet. 2, 3.
a proclamation commanding men of all nations to fall
down and worship it, at hearing the sound of music,
yet. 4, 5, 6, 7. an accusation of the Jews to the king,
particularly Shadrach, Mrsbach, and A bed-nego, for
not worshipping it, ver. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. the king's
sending for them in rage, and threatening-to cast
them into a fiery furnace if they continued to disobey
his will, ver. 13, 14, 15. their answer, which shewed
an inflexible resolution at all events not to comply
with it, yet. l6, 17, 18. the king's order to heat the
furnace seven times hotter than usual, and cast them
into it, which was executed; the consequence of
which was, they that' .cast them in were destroyed
through the vehement heat of the furnace, but the
three Jews were unhurt, vet. 19, o_0, 21, 22, 23. Nebu-
chadnezzar's amazement at the sight ot' four persons,
instead of three; and these loose, walking in the
midst of the tire without hurt; and one of them like
the son of God, which he observed to his counsellors,
yet. 24, 25. upon which he called to Shadrach, Mr-
sbach, and Abed-nego, to come out of the furnace,
which they did in the presence of his princes, go-
vernors, and ofticers, having received not the least
-damage in their persons or clothes, vet. 26. o.7. and
then the king, praising the God of the Jews, published
an edict that none should speak against him on pain of
death; and restored the three men to their former
dignity, yet. 28, 29, 30.
Vet. t. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of
gold, &c.] Not of solid massy gold; but either off
plate of gold, and hollow witbin; or of wood overlaid
with gold; for otherwise it must have took up a pro-
digious quantity of gold to make an image of such
dimensions as follow; this be ordered his statuaries or
workmen to make for him; whether this image was
tbr himself, or his father Nabopolassar, or for his chief
god Bel, or as a new deity, is not easy to say; how-
ever, it was made for religious worship: the reasons
that moved him to it cannot be ascertained; it might
be out of pride and vanity, and to set forth the glory
and stability of his monarchy, as if be was not only the
head of gold, but as an image all of gold; and to con-
tradict the interpretation of his dream, and avert the
fate of his empire signified by it; or to purge himself
from the jealousies his subjects had entertaimd of him,
of relinquishing the religion of his country, and em-
bracing the Jewish relip.'ion, by his praise of the God
0flsraei, and the promotion of'Jews to places of trust
and honour; or this might be done by the advice of
his nobles, to establish an uniformity of religion in Ills
kingdom, and to prevent the growth of Judaism; and
it may be to lay a snare for Daniel and his companions;
of which we have an instance of the like kind in cb.
vi. Wilen this image was made is not certain; some

{t} \^aklm ertb\^ in aula regis, Grotius.