Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_200.lzh/6_297.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-19 | 7KB | 129 lines

in the diatect of the Jews, he may mean the one true
God who is holy, and from-whom alone is the spirit
of prophecy or of foretelling things to come; which
he knew by former experience Daniel had: and before
him I told the dream, saying; as follows:
 Vet. 9. 0 Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, &c.]
So he called him, either because he excelled them in
Imowiedge, and was greater than they, as Jacchiades;
though not of .their rank and order, which Daniel
would have scorned to have beers among, and reckoned
of; so that this would have been no compliment, but
tgriefunto him; or because he was appointed by the
king chief over them, and even over their governors;
see the note on ch. iS. 48: because I know that the spirit
of the holy gods is in thee; see the note on the pre-
ceding verse: and no secret troubleth thee; any ways
perplexes thy mind to find it out; it is easy to thee to
come at; it gives thee no manner of trouble to get
knowledge of it; there's no secret hidden from thee;
sll is plain before thee, and with the utmost facility
canst thou reveal it: tell me the visions of my dream
that I have seen; that is, the meaning of them; for the
king remembered this his dream, and afterwards tells
it very particularly: and the interpretation of it; it may
be rendered, that is, the interpretation of it h; for that
only was what the king wanted.
    r. I0. Thus were the visions of mine head in my
bed, &c.] So things appeared to my fancy thus; they
ran in my head or brain in a dream in my bed, as if I
saw them with my eyes, as follows; for so I thought,
I taw, and behold a 'tree in the midst of the earth; an
emblem of a powerful prince well settled, and strongly
supported in his power and government; so the As-
syrian monarch, Ezek. xxxi. 3--9. and here Nebuchad-
nezzar himself, as it is afterwards explained; who was
well established in his monarchy, the metropolis of
which was Babylon; and which stood pretty much in
the midst of the then known world: and the height thereof
was great; taller than trees in common; denoting the
superiority of the Babyloninn monarch over all kings
and kingdoms of the earth.
Ver, 11, The tree grew, and was strong, &c.] Grew
higher and broader, taller and thicker, increased in
boughs and branches, and became strong and stable,
that no winds nor storms could move it: this shews
the increasing power of Nebuchadnezzar, the enlarge-
ment of his dominions, and the stability of his empire:
and the height thereof reached unto heaven; higher than
any on earth; expressive of his dominion over all na-
tions and people of the earth; or of his ambition of
deity itself; and so Sandish illustrates it by Isa. xiv. 14.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, &c.: and the
sight thereof to the end of the earth: being so high, it
was seen afar off; the fame of this great monarch
reached to the ends of the earth; the eyes of all were
turned to him; some looking upon him with wonder,
others with envy.
Ver. 12. The leaves thereof were fair, &c.] Or
branches {}, as some; and design either the provinces
belonging to his empire, which were very large and
flourishing; or the governors of them under him, as
Sandish, who made no small and contemptible figure;
his princes were altogether kings: and the fruit thereof
much; great revenues from all parts of the empire were
brought to him: and in it was meat for all; the pro-
duce of the several countries, and the trade carried on
in them, brooght in a sufficient livelihood to all the
i n ha bi tan ts: the beasts ofthefield had shadow under it.; the
inhabitants of the several Heathenish nations under hint,
and even those that were most savage, were protected
in their lives and properties by him ;.so princes should
be a screen, a protection to their subjects: and the
fowls of the heaven dwelt in the bough.s thereof; which
Sandish interprets of the' Israelites, m opposition to
the foreign nations, comparable to the beasts of the
field: and all flesh was fed flit; all his subjects shared
in the good things his victorious arms brought into his
empire; all enriched, or however made comfortable,
and had a sufficiency of food and raiment; so that
there was no reason to complain of him as oppressive
to his subjects.
Ver. 13. l saw in the visionsof my head upon my bed,
&c.] The king goes on to relate what other things
presented themselves to his imagination in his dream,
concerning this tree which signified himself: and, behold,
a tvatcher: which Saadiah interprets of Bath Kol; but
Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Jacchiades, and Ben Melech. of
an angel; so called because incorporeal, ever watches,
and never sleeps, and is always attentive to, and oh,
servant of, the commands of God so the angels in
the fragment of Enoch are called egregori, watchers;
and the same word is here used in the Alexandrian
copy. Some {k} render it an enemy, an' holy one :' ac-
cording to the sense of the word in 1 Sam. xxviii. 16.
and produce it to shew that angels are called enemies.:
and an holy one; one of the holy angels that never
sinned, nor left their first estate, but continued in it;
in which they are established by Christ, and are im-
peccable; are perfectly pure and holy in their nature
and actions: such an one came down from heaven; the
place of their abode, as it seemed to Nebuchadnezzar
in his dream.
Ver. 14. He cried aloud, &c.] Or, with strengths;
being a mighty angel, and that he might be heard
far and near: and said thus, hew down the tree; remove
this mighty monarch from his throne; take away his
government from him: this is said to fellow-angels
employed in theafihirs of Providence, and the execution
of them, to bring about-an event so momentous: and
cut off his branches; take away his provinces, the several
parts of his dominion, from him: shake off his leaves:
cause his deputy-governors to shake off their allegiance
to him: and scatter his fruit; the revenues of his vast
empire, and let others take them: let the beasts get
away from under it, and the .fowls from his branches;
those that have either voluntarily betook themselves to
him for protection; or have been carried captive by
him, and have lived under his shadow, whether of the
more barbarous nations, or more civilized, as the
Jews; let them take the opportnnity of withdrawing

{h} \^hrvpw\^ id est, interpretationem ejus, Junius & Tremellius, Brough-
tonus, Michaelis.
{i} \^hype\^ ramus ejus, Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus; ramos
ejus, Junius & Tremellius; rami ejus, Piscator.
{k} Lex. Kabalist. in voce *** p. 54, 55.
{l} \^lyxb\^ in virtute, Montanus; cum robore, Gejerus; fortier, Coc-
ceius, Michaelis; strenue, Junius & Tremellius, Broughtonus.