Daniel 2:29

As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Hereafter—i.e., in the course of history, not only in the Messianic days.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:24-30 Daniel takes away the king's opinion of his magicians and soothsayers. The insufficiency of creatures should drive us to the all-sufficiency of the Creator. There is One who can do that for us, and make known that to us, which none on earth can, particularly the work of redemption, and the secret designs of God's love to us therein. Daniel confirmed the king in his opinion, that the dream was of great consequence, relating to the affairs and changes of this lower world. Let those whom God has highly favoured and honoured, lay aside all opinion of their own wisdom and worthiness, that the Lord alone may be praised for the good they have and do.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed - Margin, "up;" that is, thy thoughts ascended. The Chaldee is, "thy thoughts ascended" - סלקוּ selı̂qû. So the Greek: "Thy thoughts ascended (ἀνέβησαν anebēsan) upon thy couch." There is, evidently, some allusion to the thoughts "ascending," or "going up;" and perhaps the idea is, that they were employed on important subjects - an idea which we now express by saying that one's thoughts are "elevated," as contrasted with those which are "low" and "grovelling."

What should come to pass hereafter - It would seem most probable from this, that the thoughts of Nebuchadnezzar were occupied with this subject in his waking moments on his bed, and that the dream was grafted on this train of thought when he fell asleep. Nothing is more probable than that his thoughts might be thus occupied. The question respecting his successor; the changes which might occur; the possibility of revolutions in other kingdoms, or in the provinces of his own vast empire, all were topics on which his mind would probably be employed. As God designed, too, to fix his thoughts particularly on that general subjects the changes which were to occur in his empire - such an occasion, when his attention was greatly engrossed with the subject, would be very suitable to impart the knowledge which he did by this vision. Daniel refers to this, probably, because it would do much to confirm the monarch in the belief of his inspiration, if he referred to the train of thought which had preceded the dream; as it is not improbable that the king would remember his "waking" thoughts on the subject, though his "dream" was forgotten.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. God met with a revelation Nebuchadnezzar, who had been meditating on the future destiny of his vast empire.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

As for thee, O king,.... So far as thou hast any concern in this matter, or with respect to thee, the following was thy case; these the circumstances and situation in which thou wert:

thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, which should come to pass hereafter; as he lay on his bed, either sleeping or waking, very probably the latter, his thoughts were employed about this great monarchy he had erected, and what would be the issue of it; and was very desirous of knowing what successors he should have in it, and how long it would continue, and what would be the fate of it; when he fell asleep upon this, and had a dream agreeable to his waking thoughts:

and he that revealeth secrets: a periphrasis of the God of heaven, as in the preceding verse:

maketh known unto thee what shall come to pass; this he did by the dream he gave him, though he had forgot it; and now by restoring that, and the interpretation of it, by Daniel.

Geneva Study Bible

As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. came into thy mind] lit. came up,—the corresponding Heb. word followed by ‘upon the heart,’ being a Heb. idiom for occur to, be thought of by: cf. 2Es 3:1; and see Isaiah 65:17; Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 19:5; Jeremiah 32:35; Jeremiah 44:21; Jeremiah 51:50; Acts 7:23. The king, as he lay awake at night, was meditating on the future, speculating, it may be, upon the future destinies of his kingdom, or the success of his projects for the beautification of his capital; and the dream, it seems to be implied, was the form into which, under Providence, his thoughts gradually shaped themselves. In a dream, the images and impressions, which the mind, while in a waking state, has received, are recombined into new, and often fantastic forms; in the present case, a colossal and strangely constructed statue was the form which the recombination ultimately produced.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind m on thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. This verse is of somewhat suspicious authenticity, the renderings of the different versions show such a diversity of text. The Septuagint rendering is very brief, being merely a version of the last clause, "He that revealeth secrets (μυστήρια) showed that which behoveth to be." This has the appearance as if the translators here rendered the last word as an infinitive, taking ל as not the preformatvre of the third person future, but as the sign of the infinitive. It is not necessarily so, because it may be that δει' is regarded as included in לֶךהוֵא (lehave). Theodotion is in closer agreement with the Massoretic, "O king, thy thoughts upon thy bed raised up what behoved to be after these things; and he that revealeth secrets hath made known to thee what behoveth to be." The Peshitta renders slightly differently, Thou, O king, thy thoughts arose in thy heart on account of what should be in the latter days, and he that revealeth secrets made known to thee what shall be." Even Jerome, who is usually pretty close to the Massoretic text, differs a little here. "Thou, O king, didst begin to think upon thy couch what would be after these things; and he who reveal-eth mysteries showeth thee what shall be." Paulus Tellensis has broken away from the Septuagint, supplying the clause omitted, not improbably from Theodotion, "Thou, O king, when. thou layest upon thy couch, sawest all things which behoved to happen in the last days; and he who revealeth secrets hath showed to thee what behoved to be." Altogether, with the exception of the last clause, which is evidenced by all the versions, we doubt the authenticity of this verse. However, the interpolation, if we have a case of it here, must have been of old date, as is indicated by the archaic form אַנְתָה (an'tah), which becomes in the Q'ri אַנְת (an't). Whether an interpolation or part of the original text, the picture suggested is very natural. The young conqueror, who had already secured the whole of South-Western Asia to the river of Egypt, was occupying his thoughts in speculating what should come after him. He falls asleep, and the subject of his waking thoughts becomes the subject of his dreams. Daniel 2:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The pronoun אנתּה (as for thee), as Daniel everywhere writes it, while the Keri substitutes for it the later Targ. form אנתּ, is absolute, and forms the contrast to the ואנה (as for me) of Daniel 2:30. The thoughts of the king are not his dream (Hitz.), but thoughts about the future of his kingdom which filled his mind as he lay upon his bed, and to which God gave him an answer in the dream (v. Leng., Maur., Kran., Klief.). Therefore they are to be distinguished from the thoughts of thy heart, Daniel 2:30, for these are the thoughts that troubled the king, which arose from the revelations of the dream to him. The contrast in Daniel 2:30 and Daniel 2:30 is not this: "not for my wisdom before all that live to show," but "for the sake of the king to explain the dream;" for בis not the preposition of the object, but of the means, thus: "not by the wisdom which might be in me." The supernatural revelation (לי (<) גּלי) forms the contrast, and the object to which דּי על־דּברת points is comprehended implicite in מן־כּל־חיּיּא, for in the words, "the wisdom which may be in me before all living," lies the unexpressed thought: that I should be enlightened by such superhuman wisdom. יהודצוּן, "that they might make it known:" the plur. of undefined generality, cf. Winer, 49, 3. The impersonal form of expression is chosen in order that his own person might not be brought into view. The idea of Aben Ezra, Vatke, and others, that angels are the subject of the verb, is altogether untenable.