Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_300.lzh/6_300.TXT

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that his proud heart and haughty spirit might be
brought down, and be made to acknowledge that there
was a God higher than he, that judgeth in the earth,
and that rules and overrules, and disposes of all things
in it according to his will and pleasure; see vet. 17.
Ver. 26. And whereas they commanded to leave the
stump of the tree roots, &c.] That is. the watchers and
the holy ones-; or it was commanded: this was the
order given by the most High: thy kingdom-shall be
sure unto thee; signifying that another king should not
be set up in his room; and though the kingdom and
admi, n|stration of it would depart from, him for a while,
yet it would be restored again, and be firm and stable:
after that thou shall have known that the heavens do rule;
that is, that God, who is the Maker of the heavens, and
dwells there, is known and acknowledged by thee to
rule on the earth; from the government of which he
was desirous of excluding him, and taking it to him-
self; see Luke xv. 18.
Vet. 27. Wherefore, 0 Icing, let my counsel be accept-
able to thee, &c.] Since this is the true interpretation
of the dream, and such evils are like to befall thee ac-
cording to it, permit me, though thou art a king, and
I am thy minister or servant, to give thee some advice;
and let it be taken in good part, as done with a good
design, and a hearty concern for thy welfare: and break
off thy sins by righteousness; this advice carries in it a
tacit charge of sins, and a reproof for them; which
shews the faithfulness of Daniel: these sins probably,
besides pride, intemperance, luxury, and uncleanness,
were tyranny, rapine, violence, and oppression of his
subjects, to which righteousness is opposed; and by
which, that is, by a course and series of righteous living,
by administering public justice, arid giving to every
one their due, he is advised to .break off his sinful
course of life; to break off the yoke of his sins upon
his neck; to cease from doing evil, and to learn to do
well: .and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor;
tohis poor subjects, and especially to the poor .captives
the Jews, Daniel might chiefly bear upon his mind,
whom the king had ill used, shewn no compassion to,
and had greatly distressed; but is now counselled to
relieve their wants, and give generously to them out
of the vast treasures he was master of: if it may be a
lengthening of thy tranquillily ; peace or pros.perity;
perhaps by such a conduct there may be a repneve for
a while, the evil portended and threatened by this
dream may be deferred for a time; and though the de-
cree of the most High cannot be altered, yet the exe-
cution of it may be .protracted, and prosperity be
lengthened out. Daniel could not assure the king of
this; but as there was a possibility, and even a proba-
bility of it, as in the case of Nineveh, and others, whose
ruin was threatened, and yet upon repentance was pro-
longed; it was highly advisable to try the experiment,
and make use of such a conduct, in hope of it; and the
rather, since the humiliation of princes, and their re-
formation, though but external, is observed by the
Lord, as in the case of Ahab. Aben Ezra, Jacchiades,
and Ben Melech, render it, if it may be an healing of
thine error; that is, the pardon of thy sins, that they
may be forgiven thee; see Acts viii. 22.
Ver. 28. All this came upon the king Nebuchad-
nezzar.] All that was signified in the dream, his mad-
ness, the removal of him from the administration of
government, and the brutal life he lived for seven
years; for this was not a mere parable or fiction, as
some have thought, framed to describe the state and
punishment of a proud man, but was areal fact; though
it is not made mention of by any historians, excepting
what has been observed before out of Abydenus, yet
there is no reason to doubt of the truth of it, from this
relation of Daniel; and is further confirmed by his
observing the same to Belshazzar his grandson some
years after it was done, as a known thing, and as an
un_q_uestionable matter of fact, ch. v. 20, 2l.
Ver. 29. At the end of twelve months, &c.] After
the dream, and the interpretation of it; which, accord-
ing to Bishop Usher {}, Dean Prideaux {t}, and Mr. Whis-
ton", was in the year of the Julian period 4145, and
before Christ 569, and in the 36th year of his reign:
one whole year, ,a space of time, either which God gave
him to repent in, or which he obtained by attending
for a while to Daniel's advice: he walked in the palace
of the kingdom of Babylon; or upon the palace {w}; upon
the roof of it, which in the eastern countries was usu-
ally flat and plain; and so Abydenus {x}, in the above-
cited place, represents him, \~wv anabav epi ta basilhia\~, as.
ascending upon his royal palace; when, after he had
fiuished his oration on it, he disappeared. From hence
he could take a full view of the great city of Babylon,
which swelled him with pride and vanity, and which
he expressed in the next verse; see the note on ver. 4,
where also mention is made of his palace, the new one
built by him. The old palace of the kings of Babylon
stood on the east side of the river Euphrates, oVer-
against it, as Dean Prideaux {y} observes; on the other-
side of the river stood the new palace Nebuchadnezzar
built. The old one was four miles in circumference;
but this new one was eight miles, encompassed with
three walls, one within another, and strongly fortitled;
and in it were hanging-gardens, one of the wonders of
the world, made by him for the pleasure of his wife
Amyitis, daughter of Astyages king of Media; who.
being taken with the mountainous and woody parts of
her native country, and' retaining an inclination for
them, desired something like it at Babylon; and, to
gratify her herein, this surprising work was made:
though Diodorus Siculus {z} says it was made by a Sy-
rian king he does not name, for the sake of his concu-
bine; and whose account of it, and which is given
from him by Dean Prideaux {a}, and the authors of the
Universal History {b}, is this, and in the words of the
latter: "these gardens are said to contain a square of
"four plethra, or four hundred feet on each side, and
"to have consisted of terraces one above another,
"carried up to the height of the wall of the city; the
"ascent, from terrace to terrace, being by steps ten

{s} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3435.
{t} Connexion, &c. part. 1. p. 105.
{u} Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
{w} \^lkyh le\^ super palatium, Vatablus; super palatio, Cecceius, Mi-
chaelis.
{x} Apud Euseb. ut supra.
{y} Connexion, &c. part 1. B; 2. p. 102.
{z} Biliothec. I. 2. p. 98.
{a} Ibid.
{b} Vol. 4. B. 1. ch. 9. p. 409, 410.