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Giving Glory and Thanks to God (Daniel 2)

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Daniel 2:14-23

14 Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise [men] of Babylon: 15 He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why [is] the decree [so] hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. 16 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.

17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: 18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise [men] of Babylon. 19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what [is] in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast [now] made known unto us the king’s matter.

The following text is edited from Matthew Henry’s commentary (available at BLB). This classic commentary has been in circulation since the early 18th century and is considered the most widely used and distributed Bible commentary.

Daniel gives honor to God in this thanksgiving with a copious expression:

Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever.

There is that for ever in God which is to be blessed and praised; it is unchangeably and eternally in Him. And it is to be blessed for ever and ever; as the matter of praise is God’s eternal perfection, so the work of praise shall, likewise, be everlasting.

Knowing this, Daniel sees fit to give glory to our unchangeable and blessed God for the following reasons:

1. He gives God glory for what He is in Himself.

Wisdom and might are His, wisdom and courage (so some); whatever is fit to be done He will do; whateverHe will do He can do, He dares do, and He will be sure to do it in the best manner, for He has infinite wisdom to design and contrive and infinite power to execute and accomplish. With Him are strength and wisdom. Think about that. God is infinite in His wisdom and infinite in His might. This is great news! Read on to learn why.

2. He gives God glory for what He is to the world of mankind.

He has a universal influence and agency upon all the children of men, and all their actions and affairs. Are the times changed? Is the posture of affairs altered? Does every thing lie open to mutability? It is God that changes the times and the seasons, and the face of them. No change comes to pass by chance, but according to the will and counsel of God. Are those that were kings removed and deposed? Do they abdicate? Are they laid aside? It is God that removes kings. Are the poor raised out of the dust, to be set among princes? It is God that sets up kings; and the making and unmaking of kings is a flower of His crown who is the fountain of all power, King of kings and Lord of lords. Are there men that excel others in wisdom, philosophers and statesmen, that think above the common rate, contemplative penetrating men? Well, it is God that gives wisdom to the wise, whether they be so wise as to acknowledge it or not; they have it not of themselves, but it is He that gives knowledge to those that know understanding, which is a good reason why we should not be proud of our knowledge, and why we should serve and honour God with it and make it our business to know Him.

3. He gives God glory of this particular discovery.

He praises Him, First, For that he could make such a discovery (v. 22): He reveals the deep and secret things which are hidden from the eyes of all living. It was he that revealed to man what is true wisdom when none else could (Job 27:27, 28); it is He that reveals things to come to His servants and prophets. He does himself perfectly discern and distinguish that which is most closely and most industriously concealed, for He will bring into judgment every secret thing; the truth will be evident in the great day. He knows what is in the darkness, and what is done in the darkness, for that hides not from him, Psalm 139:11, 12. The light dwells with him, and He dwells in the light(1 Tim. 6:16), and yet, as to us, He makes darkness his pavilion. Some understand it of the light of prophecy and divine revelation, which dwells with God and is derived from Him; for He is the Father of lights, of all lights; they are all at home in him.

Secondly, For that He had made this discovery to him. Here he has an eye to God as the God of his fathers; for, though the Jews were now captives in Babylon, yet they were beloved for their father’s sake. He praises God, who is the fountain of wisdom and might, for the wisdom and might He had given him, wisdom to know this great secret and might to bear the discovery. Note this: Whatever wisdom and might we have we must acknowledge to be God’s gift. Thou hast made this known to me, v. 23. What was hidden from the celebrated Chaldeans, who made the interpreting of dreams their profession, is revealed to Daniel, a captive-Jew, a babe, much their junior. God would hereby put honor upon the Spirit of prophecy just when He was putting contempt upon the spirit of divination. Was Daniel thus thankful to God for making known that to him which was the saving of the lives of him and his fellows?

Much more reason have we to be thankful to Him for making known to us the great salvation of the soul, to us and not to the world, to us and not to the wise and prudent!

The Blue Letter Bible has Matthew Henry’s complete unabridged commentaries for each Bible book.

Comments

  1. How did Jesus obtain the ability to become the propitiation, to accept the consequences of sin for all? God prepared a body in the only way to enter this world. He took on flesh to become brother to all, to become one of us. As one of us He then made the life and death decision necessary for His purpose. The controversy over the baptism of John attests to the severity of this act. The Son of Man, Jesus accepted the consequences of the flesh for all at His baptism to fulfill all righteousness. Mat 3:15
    This work of God prefigured in sacrifices of the innocent and memorialized in the Passover was initiated when Jesus accepted the consequences of sin at His baptism by the Levite, John. In a figure this was Elias. Mat 11:14
    Jesus truly became one with us as He accepted the consequences of sin by His baptism. Mat 3:6, 14-15
    Now this Son of Man came under the curse of death for sin. This Son of Man also obtained all the intention of God Who created man in His Image if He completed His life and sacrifice without sin. Through living without sin Jesus accomplished the satisfaction of sins’ consequence at His sacrifice in the crucifixion. Jesus risked all and was not deterred by insult, torture, even death to attain all righteousness. Jesus owns the keys of hell and death. Jesus is the King of all by right of accomplishment. Mat 28:18, 1Cr 2:6-10, 1Cr 1:24
    Behold your King.

    • That’s right Bob, Amen.
      And- Psalm 24:7-10 Jesus re-entered heaven. This time in the resurrected body of a man. I don’t think any man had ever stood at those gates before Him. And yet He was no ordinary man. And all the angels sang at once,
      “He is Jesus the King of Glory.”

      Open the gates of your life and ask the King of Glory to come in. You will sing, “He is Jesus the King of Glory.”

  2. The work Danny boy and his Hebrew brothers did through their GOD in opening the Chaldeans eyes to the Truth in Dan 2:1-49 HNV was a miracle to behold. A foreshadowing of Rom 11:1-36 HNV and the work performed by the Hebrew Messiah, the King of the Jews, Jhn 19:14.

    J.

    P.s. we must take the bad with the good and not just the good; otherwise it would be a half truth.

  3. Hallelujah.

    Thank your Lord for the message from Chris and for the sharing of Bob, Stephen and Jerry.

    Oh the wonderful depths of the holy scriptures.

    God indeed prepared a body as Bob writes. The Lord Jesus’ body, His walk as a man being one without sin, that by His mercy and love toward me and all men, Jesus would take all sin onto Himself on the cross.

    The Holy Spirit through the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us ‘Therefore, when He came into the world, He said “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.”‘ Hebrews 10:5.

    This is a quote from Psalms 40, a chapter in the book of Psalms that I love much.

    Psalms 40:6 has written.. “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; ‘my ears You have opened’ (or ‘an open ear You have dug’), burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.”

    Who is it that have an ear opened? Why surely it is those whom the Lord Jesus put in His book of life before the foundations of time, those whom were created by Him and through Him and given to Jesus by the Father.

    This then points us to the ‘body’ in Hebrews 10:5 being not only that perfect, sinless body of the Christ, given up for me on the cross at Calvary as a subsitute for my sins…

    …BUT also the ‘body’ in Hebrews 10:5 is in fact the body of each and every individual to whom the gospel has been carried to, for whom the Father in His mercy “digs an open ear” [Psalms 40:6] to receive the blessed words of Jesus, words of life and Spirit taken into the depths of their heart, thereby leading unto salvation. This is the further teaching given to us in Psalms 40.

    The Father, in His abounding love and mercy, through His Holy Spirit, who hovering over the indivual having awaited the Father’s time, took each from the desolate pit and set their feet on the blessed Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ Psalms 40:2.

    While some may not have recognised themselves as having been taken from the pit, all in fact were…”an open ear” to receive the gospel had in fact been dug by God, from the pit of darkened sin.

    As the prophet Isaiah puts it ‘we each were of no soundness, from the bottom of our soles to the tops of our heads, [by our sins] we were left with welts and open wounds’ Isaiah 1:6.

    But all praises to our God the Father for the grace given to us in Jesus Christ. God has swathed us in His love.

    By God the Father’s abounding love we receive the washing and cleansing of our welts and wounds by Jesus blood, a swathing. Blood shed for us each, you and me, in mercy, love and grace.

    How awesome and wonderful to behold, that in the believer’s heart is the King of glory.

    Amen

    In Christ
    Mark H.

  4. Daniel knew God. He did not hesitate. He was entirely convinced and committed. Now we appear before the King. The summation and consummation of entirety.
    Hbr 2:3, Isa 55:6, Mal 2:2, Jhn 9:27, Rom 11:8, Hbr 3:8, Hbr 3:15, Hbr 4:7

    Rev 4:11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created