Verse 26
26. Wherefore shut thou up, etc. Rather, nevertheless shut thou up the vision. (See Daniel 9:24; Daniel 12:4.) Although a true prophecy, it was to be hidden from the minds of men, if not from their eyes, until a later time. Two large legal documents of the fifth century B.C. were found in perfect condition by Dr. Petrie, which had been hidden away in an earthen pot probably at the time they were drawn up. (Compare Jeremiah 32:11.) However, there is no account in Daniel or elsewhere of any such discovery in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes to which time this prophecy chiefly refers. It is better, therefore, to understand this verse as part of the apocalyptic vision. The author uses here the common literary method of his day in enforcing the thought that the chief lessons of the vision were not for the contemporaries of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, but for those who should live long afterward. It could not be understood until then.
Be the first to react on this!
