Daniel 2:20

2:14-23 Daniel humbly prayed that God would discover to him the king's dream, and the meaning of it. Praying friends are valuable friends; and it well becomes the greatest and best men to desire the prayers of others. Let us show that we value our friends, and their prayers. They were particular in prayer. And whatever we pray for, we can expect nothing but as the gift of God's mercies. God gives us leave in prayer to tell our wants and burdens. Their plea with God was, the peril they were in. The mercy Daniel and his fellows prayed for, was bestowed. The fervent prayers of righteous men avail much. Daniel was thankful to God for making known that to him, which saved the lives of himself and his fellows. How much more should we be thankful to God, for making known the great salvation of the soul to those who are not among the worldly wise and prudent!

Daniel answered and said,.... That is, he began his prayer, as Jacchiades observes, or his thanksgiving, and expressed it in the following manner: blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: a form of blessing God, or a wish that he may be blessed by men for evermore; for there is that in his name, in his nature, in his perfections, and in his works, which require that praise be given him now, and to all eternity: for wisdom and might are his; "wisdom" in forming the scheme of things, and "might" or power in the execution of them; "wisdom" in revealing the secret of the dream to Daniel, and "might" to accomplish the various events predicted in it: for what Daniel here and afterwards observes has a very peculiar regard to the present affair, for which his heart was warm with gratitude and thankfulness.

(20) Blessed be the name.— Daniel’s prayer is for the most part framed upon the model of scriptural language, while on the other hand it appears to have been adapted to their own special needs by later pious servants of God. The Doxology, with which it commences, is founded upon the liturgical formula concluding Psalms 41, the substance of it being repeated by Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 9:5 ).

He blesseth God for two things. 1. Wisdom; he means chiefly the wisdom God gave him in revealing this great secret to him, which the wise men could not attain to, because they knew not the true God, nor did seek to him for it, this is clear in Daniel 2:21-23 . 2. Might is his; that is, almighty, above all mighty potentates of the world, above Nebuchadnezzar and all the kings of the earth, for he sets them up and plucks them down at pleasure, Daniel 2:21 , as the interpretation of the dream and vision shows.

20 . answered ] In the sense of commencing to speak: so Daniel 3:9 ; Daniel 3:14 ; Daniel 3:19 ; Daniel 3:24 , al. ; and ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπε in the N.T., Matthew 11:25 ; Matthew 17:4 ; Matthew 28:5 , al. : cf. Dalman, Die Worte Jesu (1898), p. 19. Blessed , &c.] Cf. Psalm 113:2 ; also Job 1:21 . for ever and ever ] from eternity and to eternity , as Psalm 41:13 ; Psalm 106:48 , cf. Nehemiah 9:5 , also (without the art. in the Heb.) Jeremiah 7:7 , Psalm 90:2 ; Psalm 103:17 , al. wisdom , &c.] Job 12:13 ‘With him are wisdom and might.’ 20–23 . Daniel’s thanksgiving for the great mercy vouchsafed to him.

Verse 20. - And Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the Name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his. The Septuagint, having practically given the beginning of this verse as the end of ver 19. omits it now: hence it renders, "Blessed be the Name of the great Lord for ever, because the wisdom and the greatness are his." The fact that מִן־עָלְמָא ( min'alma ), "from eternity," is not rendered in this version, and that the adjective "great" is added in its place, indicates a difference of reading. Probably there was a transposition of מברך and מן־עלמא and the מן omitted. Then עלמא would be regarded as status em-phaticus of the adjective עלּים ( allim ) This is not likely to be a correct reading, as allim means " robust ," - possessing the vigour of youth." Theodotion differs somewhat more from the Massoretic text than is his custom, "And he said, Be the Name of God blessed from eternity to eternity, for (the) wisdom and (the) understanding are his." This is shorter; the omission of the pleonastic formula, "answered and said," has an appearance of genuineness that is impressive. It would seem as if Theodotion had בינְתָא ( beenetha ), " understanding ," instead of גְבוּרָה ( geboorah ), "might." The Peshitta and the Vulgate do not differ from the Massoretic text.

The first, word of the Hebrew text of this song of thanksgiving has an interest for us, as throwing light on the question of the original language, לְהֶוֵא has the appearance of an infinitive, but it is the third person plural of the imperfect; ל is here the preformative of the third person singular and plural as in Eastern Aramaic as distinct from Western. This preformative is found occasionally in the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud, along with נ , the preformative we find regularly in Syriac. In Biblical Aramaic this pre-formative is found only with the substantive verb; the reason of this, however, we have considered in regard to the language (see Introduction, p. 23.). Suffice it that we regard this as an evidence that Daniel was originally written in Eastern Aramaic. Professor Bevan's explanation, that the phenomenon is due to the likeness these parts of this verb have to the Divine Name, is of force to afford a reason why, in the midst of the general process of Occidentalizing the Aramaic, they shrank from applying it to this verb. That they had no scruple in writing it first hand, we find in the Targums; thus Onkelos, Genesis 18:18 , יֶהֲוֵי . We might refer to ether examples in the later Aramaic of the Talmud and other Rabbinic works. The Name of God. Later Judaism, to avoid using the sacred covenant name of God, was accustomed to use the "Name," in this sense. This may be noted that throughout this whole book, "Jehovah" occurs only in ch. 9.

Daniel answered and said - The word "answer," in the Scriptures, often occurs substantially in the sense of "speak" or "say." It does not always denote a reply to something that has been said by another, as it does with us, but is often used when a speech is commenced, as if one were replying to something that "might" be said in the case, or as meaning that the circumstances in the case gave rise to the remark. Here the meaning is, that Daniel responded, as it were, to the goodness which God had manifested, and gave utterance to his feelings in appropriate expressions of praise. Blessed be the name of God forever and ever - That is, blessed be God - the "name," in the Scriptures, being often used to denote the person himself. It is common in the Bible to utter ascriptions of praise to God in view of important revelations, or in view of great mercies. Compare the song of Moses after the passage of the Red Sea, Exodus 15; the song of Deborah after the overthrow of Sisera, Judges 5; Isaiah 12:1-6. For wisdom, and might are his - Both these were manifested in a remarkable manner in the circumstances of this case, and therefore these were the beginnings of the song of praise: "wisdom," as now imparted to Daniel, enabling him to disclose this secret, when all human skill had failed; and "might," as about to be evinced in the changes of empire indicated by the dream and the interpretation. Compare Jeremiah 32:19, "Great in counsel, and mighty in work."