As for you, O king, your thoughts came into your mind upon your bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that reveals secrets makes known to you what shall come to pass.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Begin. By thus telling what thoughts the king had entertained before his dream, he would be heard with greater confidence. (Worthington)
As for you, O king, your thoughts. For the king, on making himself master of the land of Egypt, and getting hold of the country of Judea, and carrying off the people, thought upon his bed what should be after these things; and He who knows the secrets of all, and searches the thoughts of the hearts, revealed to him by means of the image the things that were to be. And He hid from him the vision, in order that the counsels of God might not be interpreted by the wise men of Babylon, but that by the blessed Daniel, as a prophet of God, things kept secret from all might be made manifest.
Instead of the true reading the Septuagint alone inserts the translation "in the last days" after the "hereafter." But if it be read thus, we must inquire quite carefully as to where "last days" have been written; and we would refute those who think the world will never be destroyed. For never would any days be called "the last days" if the world were everlasting. And as for the statement, "Thou, O king, didst begin to meditate," (p. 503) this would indicate the [psychological] motives behind the dream; for it was for this reason that God revealed to him the secrets of the future, because the king himself wished to know what was going to happen. Also, in order that Nebuchadnezzar might marvel at the gracious gift of divine inspiration, he sets forth not only (A) what the king had beheld in the dream, but also what he had thought to himself (beforehand).
The statement which we read in the Gospel, "Who maketh His sun to rise upon the wicked and the good" (Matt. 5:45), we realize to have been fulfilled in the case of Nebuchadnezzar also. For so great was God's mercy that He |31 even revealed to Nebuchadnezzar secrets as to His own mode of government whereby (633) he rules the world. Let us ask those who assert that men's characters belong to one extreme or the other, which character do they understand Nebuchadnezzar to have possessed, the good or the evil? If the good, why is he called an impious man? If the evil (which was certainly the case), why did God show forth His holy secrets to one who was evil and earthly, that is to say, earthen?
