17 Now as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and made them expert in all book-learning and wisdom: and Daniel was wise in all visions and dreams.
But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.
I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future.
But truly it is the spirit in man, even the breath of the Ruler of all, which gives them knowledge.
By him times and years are changed: by him kings are taken away and kings are lifted up: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those whose minds are awake:
And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was great in his words and works.
In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a secret was unfolded to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a hard work: and he had knowledge of it, and the vision was clear to him.
And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.
In the third year of the rule of Belshazzar the king, a vision was seen by me, Daniel, after the one I saw at first.
But to every man some form of the Spirit's working is given for the common good. For to one are given words of wisdom through the Spirit; and to another words of knowledge through the same Spirit: To another faith in the same Spirit; and to another the power of taking away disease, by the one Spirit; And to another the power of working wonders; and to another the prophet's word; and to another the power of testing spirits; to another different sorts of tongues; and to another the power of making clear the sense of the tongues: But all these are the operations of the one and the same Spirit, giving to every man separately as his pleasure is.
And made him free from all his troubles, and gave him wisdom and the approval of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and all his house.
For I will give you words and wisdom, so that not one of those who are against you will be able to get the better of you, or to put you in the wrong.
And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it. Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now; Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker; And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense. And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them. And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging. Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.
And I have had news of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and reason and special wisdom have been seen in you.
There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, light and reason like the wisdom of the gods were seen in him: and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, made him master of the wonder-workers, and the users of secret arts, and the Chaldaeans, and the readers of signs; Because a most special spirit, and knowledge and reason and the power of reading dreams and unfolding dark sayings and answering hard questions, were seen to be in him, even in Daniel (named Belteshazzar by the king): now let Daniel be sent for, and he will make clear the sense of the writing.
O Belteshazzar, master of the wonder-workers, because I am certain that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and you are troubled by no secret; this is the dream which I saw: make clear to me its sense. On my bed I saw a vision: there was a tree in the middle of the earth, and it was very high.
Then the secret was made clear to Daniel in a vision of the night. And Daniel gave blessing to the God of heaven.
See, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret which is deeper than your knowledge:
To the man with whom he is pleased, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of getting goods together and storing up wealth, to give to him in whom God has pleasure. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.
Your teaching has made me wiser than my haters: for it is mine for ever. I have more knowledge than all my teachers, because I give thought to your unchanging word. I have more wisdom than the old, because I have kept your orders.
Wisdom and knowledge are given to you; and I will give you wealth and honour, such as no king has had before you or ever will have after you.
Give me now wisdom and knowledge, so that I may go out and come in before this people: for who is able to be the judge of this great people of yours?
And God gave Solomon a great store of wisdom and good sense, and a mind of wide range, as wide as the sand by the seaside. And Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, even than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman and Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he had a great name among all the nations round about.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Daniel 1
Commentary on Daniel 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of the Prophet Daniel
Chapter 1
This chapter gives us a more particular account of the beginning of Daniel's life, his original and education, than we have of any other of the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, began immediately with divine visions; but Daniel began with the study of human learning, and was afterwards honoured with divine visions; such variety of methods has God taken in training up men for the service of his church. We have here,
Dan 1:1-7
We have in these verses an account,
Dan 1:8-16
We observe here, very much to our satisfaction,
Dan 1:17-21
Concerning Daniel and his fellows we have here,