a watcher and an holy one . Figure of speech Hendiadys ( App-6 ) = an holy angel. watcher . A Chaldee name ( 'ir ) for an angelic being, watching over the affairs of men. Compare: Daniel 4:17 , Daniel 4:23 . Not the same root as in Daniel 9:14 . read more
Daniel 4:13. A watcher— Instead of watcher, Houbigant reads, an adversary, or opponent; which he thinks answers much better to the character of the angel here spoken of, as the avenger and punisher of Nebuchadnezzar's pride. According to our translation, we must understand the word as referring to the attendance of the evangelical orders upon God's throne, to receive and execute his commands. Hence they are called the eyes of the Lord. read more
13. watcher and an holy one—rather, "even an holy one." Only one angel is intended, and he not one of the bad, but of the holy angels. Called a "watcher," because ever on the watch to execute God's will [JEROME], (Psalms 103:20; Psalms 103:21). Compare as to their watchfulness, Revelation 4:8, "full of eyes within . . . they rest not day and night." Also they watch good men committed to their charge (Psalms 34:7; Hebrews 1:14); and watch over the evil to record their sins, and at God's bidding... read more
3. Nebuchadnezzar’s account of his dream 4:10-18 read more
The watcher who descended from heaven (Daniel 4:13) was probably a divine agent, an angel, though Nebuchadnezzar described it using terminology from his background (cf. Daniel 4:17). [Note: Keil, p. 150; Goldingay, p. 88.] Earthly kings had watchmen who served as their eyes and ears and who carried out the bidding of their lords. The binding of the stump (Daniel 4:15) hints at a restoration of the tree’s life and its growth after its cutting down. After all, the stump could have been removed.... read more
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream and its fulfilmentIn the form of a proclamation Nebuchadnezzar records his experience of the power of the Most high God (Daniel 4:1-3). He had a dream which none of his wise men could interpret (Daniel 4:4-7). He then called Daniel, and told him the dream, in which he had seen a lofty and spreading tree, which at the bidding of an angel had been cut down, its stump being bound among the grass for seven ’times’ (Daniel 4:8-18). Daniel explained that the tree was... read more
(13) A watcher and a holy one—i.e., a holy one who is watchful; translated “angel” by the LXX., but simply transliterated into “Eir” by Theodotion. The word is used twice by the king, and once by Daniel (Daniel 4:23), but it is to be noticed that the prophet substitutes “the Most High” for the words of the king in Daniel 4:17). We must suppose that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed in a language familiar to himself, and that the objects of his dream were things with which his Babylonian education had made... read more
Daniel 4:4-5 'Remember,' Mr. F. W. H. Myers once wrote to a friend, 'that first of all a man must, from the torpor of a foul tranquillity, have his soul delivered unto war.' Reference. IV. 4, 5, 7. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii. p. 183. Daniel 4:22-30 Can we believe that He whose words were so terrible against the pride of Egypt and Babylon, against that haughty insolence in men on which not Hebrew prophets only, but the heathen poets of Greece, looked with such... read more
THE BABYLONIAN CEDAR, AND THE STRICKEN DESPOTTHRICE already, in these magnificent stories, had Nebuchadrezzar been taught to recognise the existence and to reverence the power of God. In this chapter he is represented as having been brought to a still more overwhelming conviction, and to an open acknowledgment of God’s supremacy, by the lightning-stroke of terrible calamity.The chapter is dramatically thrown into the form of a decree which, alter his recovery and shortly before his death, the... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Daniel 4:1-37
Nebuchadnezzar’s madness (4:1-37)In this chapter Nebuchadnezzar recounts, for the benefit of his subjects, an experience that humbled his pride and brought him to acknowledge Yahweh as the one and only true God (4:1-3). It all began when Nebuchadnezzar had a puzzling dream. After getting no help from his Babylonian wise men, he told it to Daniel in the hope of discovering its meaning (4-9).The first thing that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream was a giant tree. It towered over the world and... read more